INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana’s attorney general has dropped a lawsuit accusing the state’s largest hospital system of violating patient privacy laws when a doctor told a newspaper that a 10-year-old girl from Ohio had traveled to Indiana for an abortion.
A federal judge last week approved Attorney General Todd Rokita’s request to dismiss his lawsuit, which the Republican had filed last year against Indiana University Health and IU Healthcare Associates, The Indianapolis Star reported.
The lawsuit accused the hospital system of violating HIPAA, the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and a state law by failing to protect patient information in the case of a 10-year-old rape victim who traveled to Indiana to receive abortive medications.
Dr. later that she did not share any personally identifying information about the girl, and no details were reported in the Star story on July 1, 2022, but it became a critical point in the abortion debate days after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Wade that June.
A federal judge in Indianapolis initially granted IU Health’s motion to dismiss the case in June, which led Rokita to file an amended complaint in July. His office then sought the dismissal of the case last week, writing that the state’s initial complaints were met by the actions IU Health has taken since The star first reported on the girl’s case.
These actions include continuing to train employees not to talk about patients in public spaces and informing employees that if they are contacted by a reporter, they must inform public relations or communications departments before responding, Rokita’s motion for dismissal stated.
“We are pleased that the information this office has been seeking for more than two years has finally been provided and that the necessary steps have been taken to accurately and consistently train its workforce to protect patients and their healthcare professionals.” , Rokita said on Monday in a statement.
However, IU Health said it has always had such practices in place and is dismayed by the claim that these were corrective actions taken in response to Rokita’s lawsuit.
“IU Health has maintained and will continue to maintain its robust HIPAA compliance policies and training for its team members, as it has done for years,” its statement reads. “While we are pleased that the Indiana Attorney General’s office acted voluntarily to close the case, we are disappointed that the limited state taxpayer resources were applied to this matter after the first complaint was dismissed by the Court as to merit.”
Indiana Medical Licensing Board scolded Bernardo in May 2023, saying he failed to comply with privacy laws by speaking publicly about the girl’s treatment.
It fell far short of the medical license suspension requested by Rokita’s office, and IU Health’s own internal investigation found that Bernard did not violate privacy laws.
The Indiana Supreme Court, however, reprimanded Rokita and fined him $250 for making statements about Bernard that violated rules of professional conduct for lawyers.
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