INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana’s lawyer basic has dropped a lawsuit that accused the state’s largest hospital system of violating affected person privateness legal guidelines when a health care provider instructed a newspaper {that a} 10-year-old Ohio woman had traveled to Indiana for an abortion.
A federal choose final week authorized Lawyer Normal Todd Rokita’s request to dismiss his lawsuit, which the Republican had filed final yr towards Indiana College Well being and IU Healthcare Associates, The Indianapolis Star reported.
The go well with accused the hospital system of violating HIPAA, the federal Well being Insurance coverage Portability and Accountability Act, and a state regulation, for not defending affected person info within the case of a 10-year-old rape sufferer who traveled to Indiana to obtain abortion medicine.
Dr. Caitlin Bernard ’s attorneys later that she shared no personally identifiable details about the woman, and no such particulars have been reported within the Star’s story on July 1, 2022, but it surely grew to become a flashpoint in the abortion debate days after the U.S. Supreme Court docket overturned Roe v. Wade that June.
A federal choose in Indianapolis initially granted IU Well being’s movement to dismiss the case in June, prompting Rokita to file an amended criticism in July. His workplace then sought the case’s dismissal final week, writing that the state’s preliminary complaints have been happy by actions IU Well being has taken since The Star first reported on the woman’s case.
These actions embrace persevering with to coach staff to not discuss sufferers in public areas and informing staff that if they’re contacted by a reporter, they need to inform the general public relations or communications departments earlier than responding, Rokita’s dismissal movement mentioned.
“We’re happy the knowledge this workplace sought over two years in the past has lastly been offered and the required steps have been taken to precisely and persistently prepare their workforce to guard sufferers and their well being care employees,” Rokita mentioned Monday in an announcement.
Nevertheless, IU Well being mentioned it has at all times had such practices in place, and it’s disheartened by the declare that these have been corrective actions made in response to Rokita’s go well with.
“IU Well being has and can proceed to keep up its strong HIPAA compliance insurance policies and coaching for its group members, because it has for years,” its assertion reads. “Whereas we’re happy the Indiana Lawyer Normal’s workplace voluntarily moved to dismiss the case, we’re disenchanted the state’s restricted taxpayer assets have been put towards this matter after the primary criticism was dismissed by the Court docket on the deserves.”
Indiana’s medical licensing board reprimanded Bernard in Could 2023, saying she didn’t abide by privateness legal guidelines by speaking publicly in regards to the woman’s therapy.
It was far in need of the medical license suspension Rokita’s workplace sought, and IU Well being’s personal inside investigation discovered that Bernard didn’t violate privateness legal guidelines.
The Indiana Supreme Court docket, in the meantime, reprimanded Rokita and fined him $250 for making statements about Bernard that violated rules of professional conduct for attorneys.
