Doctor Who Spread Story About 10-Year-Old’s Abortion Disciplined For HIPAA Violation: REPORT

Doctor Who Spread Story About 10-Year-Old’s Abortion Disciplined For HIPAA Violation: REPORT

Laurel Duggan on July 13, 2022

The doctor who spread a story about a 10-year-old girl who allegedly travelled from Ohio to Indiana for an abortion is being disciplined for a HIPAA violation for taking the story to the press, Fox News reported.

The story originated from Dr. Caitlin Bernard, an Indianapolis obstetrician-gynecologist who claimed the girl couldn’t legally obtain an abortion in her home state of Ohio. The story came under scrutiny given its single-source nature and Bernard’s history of pro-abortion activism, but an unnamed source has purportedly corroborated the story and revealed new details about the repercussions the doctor is now facing, according to Fox.

A 10-year-old Ohio girl did travel to Indiana for an abortion, a source familiar with the situation told Fox, but it remains unclear whether she was actually forced to cross state lines or was simply referred to the Indianapolis clinic after Republican Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said she would have been allowed to have an abortion in the state. Bernard’s employer is disciplining her for violating HIPAA, the federal law protecting patients’ sensitive medical information, for sharing the child’s story publicly.

WATCH:

“There is no case request for analysis that looks anything like this,” Yost said Monday while explaining that there were no cases in the state involving a 10-year-old rape victim which matched the details of this story.

Bernard did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment about the new reports of a potential HIPAA violation, but she did respond to the DCNF Friday and declined to offer any details to corroborate the story.