INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana’s attorney general has sued the state’s greatest hospital system, claiming it violated affected person privacy rules when a physician publicly shared the tale of an Ohio girl who traveled to Indiana for an abortion.
The lawsuit, filed Friday in Indianapolis federal court docket, marked Attorney General Todd Rokita’s latest attempt to hunt disciplinary criminal motion towards Dr. Caitlin Bernard. The physician’s account of a 10-year-old rape sufferer touring to Indiana to obtain abortion medication was a flashpoint in the abortion debate days after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade remaining summer season.
Rokita, a Republican, is stridently anti-abortion and Indiana was the first state to approve abortion restrictions after the court docket’s determination. The near-total abortion ban recently took effect after criminal battles.
“Neither the 10-year-old nor her mother gave the doctor authorization to speak to the media about their case,” the lawsuit mentioned. “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 HIPPA, the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, and a state legislation for now not protective the affected person’s information.
Indiana’s clinical licensing board reprimanded Bernard in May, announcing she didn’t abide by means of privacy rules by means of speaking publicly in regards to the girl’s remedy. It used to be a long way brief of the clinical license suspension that Rokita’s administrative center sought.
Still, the board’s determination gained well-liked complaint from clinical teams and others who referred to as it a transfer to intimidate medical doctors.
Hospital system officers have argued that Bernard didn’t violate privacy rules.
“We continue to be disappointed the Indiana Attorney General’s office persists in putting the state’s limited resources toward this matter,” IU Health mentioned in a commentary. “We will respond directly to the AG’s office on the filing.”
In July, a 28-year-old guy used to be sentenced to life in prison for the kid’s rape.
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