INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita filed a federal lawsuit against IU Health on Friday and accused the state's largest hospital system of not properly enforcing federal and state privacy laws in connection with abortion care provided to a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio.
In May, Dr. Caitlin Bernard was issued a letter of reprimand and had pay a $3,000 fine following a vote from the Indiana State Medical Licensing Board that found she violated patient privacy under HIPAA and state law when she spoke out about a young rape victim who needed an abortion, which she previously told The Indianapolis Star she had provided in 2022.
The board did not find that the state met its burden on reporting child abuse and fitness to practice. Bernard was not suspended or put on probation by the board, meaning the decision did not impact her ability to practice or work with patients in Indiana.
One day after the ruling, IU Health issued a statement saying it disagreed with the Medical Licensing Board’s determination and claimed Bernard did not violate privacy laws. Neither Rokita nor Bernard appealed that ruling.
Rokita seeks in this most recent suit against IU Health that the hospital system prohibit what he called further privacy violations, and aims to require them to implement an "appropriate sanctions policy" in the future.
"By publicly contradicting the Medical Licensing Board and contending the doctor’s actions were 'in compliance with privacy laws,' IU Health has caused confusion among its 36,000-member workforce regarding what conduct is permitted not only under HIPAA privacy laws and the Indiana Patient Confidentiality rule, and as a result, as Indiana’s largest health network, they created an environment that threatens the privacy of its Indiana patients," Rokita wrote.
The lawsuit includes 7 counts against IU Health.
1. Failure to implement or follow administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect the privacy of protected information
2. Failure to document disclosures of personal health information
3. Failure to implement or apply and document sanctions
4. Failure to appropriately train its workforce
5. Failure to notify patients of breach
6. Failure to mitigate harm
7. Violations of Indiana’s Deceptive Consumer Sales Act
Rokita filed the suit in the U.S. District Court Southern District of Indiana. IU Health released the following statement about the lawsuit:
"At IU Health, we hold ourselves accountable every day for providing quality healthcare and securing privacy for our patients. We continue to be disappointed the Indiana Attorney General’s office persists in putting the state’s limited resources toward this matter. We will respond directly to the AG’s office on the filing."
His continued push to investigate Bernard has ignited widespread concern and frustration among Hoosier doctors.
"It makes me terribly uncomfortable," said Gabriel Bosslet, a pulmonary and critical care doctor in Indiana told 13News in 2022, shortly after Rokita filed his initial complaint against Bernard. "The attorney general is a powerful position. No doubt about it, and for the attorney general to go after someone for simply doing their job makes it really hard for us in the state who are tasked with bringing other physicians in here to practice with us."
