CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — The Publisher of the Guardian, Derek Myers, has filed a restraining order against Adena Hospital CEO Jeff Graham on Thursday, following a series of false accusations made by Graham against Myers. In a sequence of memos distributed to more than 5,000 employees and vendors of the healthcare giant, Graham has alleged that Myers was the mastermind behind the controversial social media page ‘Blimp Arms,’ which has been critical of the hospital.
In the memos, Graham and his team baselessly assert that Myers is “[….] responsible for the social media attacks, posts, threats, misinformation, and malicious behavior against Adena on the ‘Blimp Arms’ Facebook platform.” The accusations come amid the Guardian’s investigative reporting, which has shed light on various concerning aspects of Adena Hospital and its administration. The publication has uncovered instances of terminations, firings, patient fatalities, and a multitude of legal battles.
“Cyber criminals’ motivation is to gain access to sensitive information, which in this case can cause significant disruption and damage to the lives of our patients, caregivers, and communities. These malicious actors will go to great lengths in an attempt to trick our caregivers into giving up credentials, access, confidential information, etc.,” the memo continued to read.
The decision to file a restraining order comes in the wake of a defamatory memo released in May, in which Graham echoed similar allegations against Myers. Subsequently, on July 27 and again this week, Graham persisted in making unfounded claims. Lawyers representing Myers declined to provide an on-the-record statement but revealed that legal measures are being pursued to address the situation.
Legal tensions escalated earlier this year when Myers’ legal team issued a cease-and-desist letter to Graham, politely urging him to cease the false accusations and refrain from linking Myers to the creation and management of the ‘Blimp Arms’ page. However, Graham ignored the warning and continued to propagate the baseless allegations.
“This is a sad attempt by the sinking-hospital to save face and try to deflect from the scandals that our reporting has brought to light,” Myers said in an email to the Guardian staff on Thursday, alerting the reporters, sales, and digital teams to stay vigilant while announcing the legal move. “As each of you know, I am a pillar of the First Amendment, and I stand by every single news story we have authored about the hospital, but Mr. Graham has crossed a line and unfortunately, he is being met with legal peril. His words are not protected under 1A as free speech; they are lies and lies have consequences. Alleging someone is a Cyber Terrorist and behind a dubious social media page when they simply are not is very serious and defaming. It will not deter us from our reporting of the hospital. I encourage our entire staff to continue to pitch stories and dig for facts around the health system and present them as they would any other piece of journalism. Mr. Graham is on a mission of self-harm and he is sinking his own ship, but he will not take us down with him.”
The restraining order seeks to prevent further dissemination of false claims and to ensure the protection of Myers’ professional reputation. The other legal measures his legal team are taking were not divulged in the email by Myers to his staff and his lawyers would not elaborate more on their strategy when reached by phone on Thursday.