LOS ANGELES — A former health insurance boss has taken legal action against “Last Week Tonight” host John Oliver, filing a defamation lawsuit against the Emmy winner.

Dr. Brian Morley, a hospital administrator and former medical director for AmeriHealth Caritas in Iowa, filed his lawsuit Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Morley’s complaint stems from a Medicaid-themed episode of “Last Week Tonight” that aired in April 2024. The lawsuit, reviewed by The Times, alleges Oliver and “Last Week Tonight” producer Partially Important Productions linked Morley to a drastic decrease in Medicaid services and accused him of thinking “it’s ok if people have s— on them for days.”

An attorney for Morley did not comment, and a representative for Oliver did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The episode central to Morley’s lawsuit aired April 14, 2024, and saw Oliver explore the state of Medicaid, examining health care companies’ cost-cutting measures and their toll on patients across various states. During the segment, which aired on HBO and is available on YouTube, Oliver explained the role of managed care organizations (MCOs) in the health care system and shared a news outlet’s video about dwindling patient care. The 2018 news snippet featured a cerebral palsy patient in Iowa named Louis whose care was negatively impacted by MCO involvement.

Oliver followed that part of the segment with an audio snippet of Morley’s comments about patient care from a 2017 administrative hearing. In the clip, Morley can be heard saying: “People have bowel movements every day where they don’t completely clean themselves and we don’t fuss over [them] too much. People are allowed to be dirty. You know, I would allow him to be a little dirty for a couple of days.”

The quote garnered a strong reaction from the “Last Week Tonight” studio audience and led Oliver to say he thought Morley’s comments were taken out of context. He explained that he first thought “there is no way a doctor, a licensed physician, would testify in a hearing that he thinks it’s OK if people have (expletive) on them for days.” Oliver continued his segment stating his team obtained the full hearing and that Morley “said it.”

“He meant it and it made me want to punch a hole in the wall,” Oliver said. The segment returned to the 2018 video of Louis and his mother, both responding negatively to Morley’s comments. The “Last Week Tonight” host had some choice words for Morley — which were cited in Friday’s lawsuit.

In his complaint, Morley says, “Defendants’ false accusations were designed to spark outrage, and they did.