INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita filed a federal lawsuit Friday against IU Health, claiming the state’s largest hospital system did not properly enforce state and federal privacy laws in connection to abortion care provided by Dr. Caitlin Bernard for a 10-year-old rape victim last summer.
Rokita filed the legal challenge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana. His lawsuit seeks to prohibit further privacy violations and require IU Health to implement and follow an appropriate sanctions policy.
Bernard was disciplined by the Indiana Medical Licensing Bound earlier this year for violating patient privacy laws.
“We will continue to uphold and protect Hoosier patients’ medical privacy,” Rokita stated. “Trust is the foundation of the patient-doctor relationship. Without it, we don’t have reliable, honest healthcare.”
The lawsuit consists of seven counts:
- Failure to implement or follow administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect the privacy of protected information
- Failure to document disclosures of personal health information
- Failure to implement, apply or document sanctions
- Failure to appropriately train its workforce
- Failure to notify patients of breach
- Failure to mitigate harm
- Violations of Indiana’s Deceptive Consumer Sales Act
IU Health did not immediately reply to the Indiana Capital Chronicle’s request for comment. Legal counsel for Bernard were also not immediately available Friday afternoon.
“Doctors and all health care professionals should be able to rely on their employers and patients should be able to trust their doctors,” Rokita continued in his statement. “When a hospital or other healthcare provider makes your private medical information public, that trust is decimated.”
Todd Rokita-Courtesy-Attorney General’s Office
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