PROVO — A jury's $3 million defamation verdict against KTVX Channel 4 will probably make Utah journalists more cautious and have a chilling effect on investigative journalism, a Utah media attorney says.
The award may be Utah's largest defamation verdict.
"This is by far and away the largest verdict I'm aware of," said Salt Lake media attorney Randy Dryer. "And this will certainly get everyone's attention, there's no doubt about that."
On Friday, a 4th District jury awarded $2.2 million in economic losses to Orem physician Michael H. Jensen for three stories KTVX ran in 1995 and 1996 on Jensen's practices of prescribing diet pills. The stories said Jensen violated Utah law and medical regulations when he prescribed fen-phen to former reporter Mary Sawyers without weighing her or giving her a physical, and when he suggested "maybe" prescribing Dexedrine, a non-diet medication, if the fen-phen did not work.
The jury found that Sawyers' stories defamed the doctor, cast him in false light and that his privacy was invaded by the use of a hidden camera.
"This verdict will have a chilling effect on editors and news directors, who will impose more caution and self-restraint on their reporters," Dryer said.
Monday the jury added about $840,000 in punitive damages, an amount less than most legal observers expected. Normally, punitive awards are much higher than compensatory awards. Also, California-based United Television, owners of KTVX and six other television stations across the country, has more than $500 million in assets.
The station decided to do a story on Jensen after an assistant news director said he witnessed Jensen prescribing fen-phen to the host of a Fourth of July party. News officials decided to have Sawyers pose as a patient and use a hidden camera after Jensen declined to prescribe diet medication to her over the telephone.
Sawyers took the hidden camera video to state licensing officials, who then filed a disciplinary petition against Jensen. Jensen was publicly reprimanded after agreeing to a stipulation that he had violated medical procedures for prescribing medication.
Before the petition was filed, however, and shortly after the first story aired, Jensen was fired from his job as a family practitioner and was denied insurance privileges from Intermountain Health Care.
Dale Gardiner, Jensen's attorney, told jurors that Jensen admits he had prescribed diet pills too freely. However, he said several segments of the stories and statements made by Sawyers were just simply false. Mainly, Sawyers said she caught Jensen on camera "promising me illegal drugs" when Jensen actually said "maybe" he'd be willing to prescribe Dexedrine. Jensen had also recanted that possibility and later told Sawyers he could not prescribe Dexedrine to her prior to the airing of the first story.
Sawyers, who now works as a public relations specialist in Connecticut where her husband attends college, also said Jensen did not inquire about whether she had high blood pressure. The hidden camera video shows Jensen's nurse taking Sawyers' blood pressure. The third story aired on Jensen lumped him in with three other "questionable doctors" who were accused of killing, sexually abusing and disfiguring patients. The story suggested Jensen had "passed out" drugs to addicts.
Dryer said from a legal standpoint the use of hidden cameras is much riskier than it used to be.
"This jury did what a whole series of juries are doing across the country in not looking favorably at the use of hidden cameras and other surreptitious means of gathering news," he said.
The verdict will also likely reinforce a trend of the media engaging in less investigative journalism.
"I think that is not a good development for the public, because the information gained from that kind of reporting is usually information the public should know," Dryer said.
Though admitting he violated regulations in prescribing fen-phen to Sawyers, Jensen said the news station clearly set him up. The hidden camera incident was the only complaint ever filed against Jensen, who now works as a physician at nursing homes in Salt Lake City.
"I took public issue with this, and I wasn't going to let this go without a fight," Jensen said.
He said his actions were motivated by his sincere care for a patient who turned out not to be a genuine patient. Jensen said he was led to believe that Sawyers was going to lose her job if she didn't lose weight.
Attorney Robert M. Anderson told jurors that the station stands by the stories and that the stories were basically true. He said Jensen suffered the consequences of his own conduct and not that of the station or Sawyers. Station officials say they have not decided whether to appeal the verdict.
E-MAIL: jimr@desnews.com