Rokita Information Lawsuit Towards IU Well being, Citing Privateness Breach in Reference to Dr. Caitlin Bernard Assist

Indiana Lawyer Normal Todd Rokita has filed a lawsuit in opposition to IU Well being, the state’s largest well being community, over its assist of Dr. Caitlin Bernard following a violation of affected person privateness. The lawsuit was filed in federal courtroom on Friday. Final yr, Bernard supplied abortion care to a 10-year-old rape sufferer from Ohio and later mentioned the case with the Indianapolis Star.

On the time, IU Well being performed a evaluation of the case and concluded that Bernard had not violated the affected person’s privateness. Nevertheless, earlier this yr, the Indiana Medical Licensing Board reprimanded Bernard for violating state and federal affected person privateness legal guidelines. In response, IU Well being issued a press release supporting Bernard and disagreeing with the board’s choice, standing by their very own privateness evaluation.

Todd Rokita now argues that IU Well being’s assertion undermines the steerage of the licensing board and probably confuses its workforce about what’s permissible when it comes to affected person privateness. He additionally claims that IU Well being’s unique evaluation didn’t adequately study whether or not Bernard had certainly violated privateness legal guidelines. The lawsuit additional alleges that the well being community has punished different staff for much less extreme privateness violations.

IU Well being has launched a press release in response to the lawsuit, expressing disappointment within the Lawyer Normal’s workplace for allocating restricted assets to this matter. They state that they are going to reply on to the AG’s workplace relating to the submitting. Rokita is looking for a courtroom order to require IU Well being to replace its safeguards in opposition to privateness violations and make sure that its medical doctors adjust to privateness legal guidelines.

This story has been up to date. Brandon, our Statehouse bureau chief, will be contacted at bsmith@ipbs.org or adopted on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5. Copyright 2023 IPB Information. To see extra, go to .