Indiana attorney general sues hospital system over privacy of Ohio girl who traveled for abortion
Indiana’s attorney general has sued the state’s largest hospital system, claiming it violated patient privacy laws when a doctor publicly shared the story of an Ohio girl who traveled to Indiana for an abortion.
The lawsuit, filed Friday in Indianapolis federal court, marked Attorney General Todd Rokita’s latest attempt to seek disciplinary legal action against Dr. Caitlin Bernard. The doctor’s account of a 10-year-old rape victim traveling to Indiana to receive abortion drugs became a flashpoint in the abortion debate days after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last summer.
Rokita, a Republican, is stridently anti-abortion and Indiana was the first state to approve abortion restrictions after the court’s decision. The near-total abortion ban recently took effect after legal battles.
“Neither the 10-year-old nor her mother gave the doctor authorization to speak to the media about their case,” the lawsuit stated. “Rather than protecting the patient, the hospital chose to protect the doctor, and itself.”
The lawsuit named Indiana University Health and IU Healthcare Associates. It alleged the hospital system violated HIPAA, the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, and a state law for not protecting the patient’s information.
Indiana’s medical licensing board reprimanded Bernard in May, saying she didn’t abide by privacy laws by talking publicly about the girl’s treatment. It was far short of the medical license suspension that Rokita’s office sought.
Still, the board’s decision received widespread criticism from medical groups and others who called it a move to intimidate doctors.
Hospital system officials have argued that Bernard didn’t violate privacy laws.
“We continue to be disappointed the Indiana Attorney General’s office persists in putting the state’s limited resources toward this matter,” IU Health said in a statement. “We will respond directly to the AG’s office on the filing.”
In July, a 28-year-old man was sentenced to life in prison for the child’s rape.
Sounds like this scum is trying to hide the misery his party's policies have caused.
That is exactly what it is. Republicans prefer policies based on how they think reality ought to be, rather than how it is, and actively do not want to talk about the misery they cause by doing that, because it shatters the illusion.
Unfortunately, I think it's worse than that. It seems like he has political aspirations. He's trying to use the attorney general office to position himself further to the right of everyone else.
It is really gross. It's just pure greed. Power-hungry greed
What's nuts is how they can't see the writing on the wall. Being anti abortion is so unpopular that a liberal judge won a race by +10% in a swing state. These people have completely lost touch with reality.
There's a reason why red states have been trying to disallow referendums or change rules. Even deep red states vote to keep abortion legal when there's a referendum.
This one's already done. He's trying to send a message for the next one.
Rokita is trying to get into headlines in order to parley that into winning the Republican nomination for governor (which because of Indiana’s political leanings, the GOP nominee will likely win). He is just trying to do stupid shit constantly to drum up outrage in order to make sure HIS name is more well known to more republican voters in the primary than his opponents.
He is literally using a raped 10 year old girl for career advancement, most vilest shit ever. Like not even fucking kidding you cannot make this shit up.