Abortion activist and doctor Caitlyn Bernard has been reprimanded by fine and letter by Indiana’s Medical Licensing Board for violating HIPAA by discussing a 10-year-old patient who was sent to her from Ohio for an abortion last July. The story that Bernard shared while at an abortion march with an Indianapolis Star reporter was repeated around the world. The subsequent fallout from Bernard’s loose lips was a media frenzy to identify the child and make sure the rapist was punished. The child’s family was identified shortly after and found to be living with the illegal alien rapist, Gerson Fuentes.
The board will fine Bernard the maximum fine of $1,000 for each of the three counts of violating patient privacy laws and will send her a letter of reprimand following an administrative complaint filed by Indiana’s Attorney General Theodore “Todd” Rokita.
What came out in the hearing in front of the board is definitely new information including that Bernard may even have a tattoo of a hanger that says “Trust Women” somewhere on her body. Bernard was widely criticized for being an activist and using a 10-year-old rape victim to push a pro-abortion narrative after the fall of Roe and Casey. Bernard’s lawyer did not allow the tattoo question to be answered. The state’s attorney did an excellent job at the hearing outing Bernard for her role in the debacle.
“Isn’t it true that if you were quiet about your patient and did not push this narrative about [Indiana’s] special session [regarding abortion] that you wanted to give to the media that we wouldn’t be sitting here today?” state attorney Cory Voight asked Bernard.
“No, I don’t think that’s correct,” Bernard responded. “I think that if the attorney general Todd Rokita had not chosen to make this his political stunt, we wouldn’t be here today.”
Bernard’s excuse is farcical. Of course, she wouldn’t be in that hearing if she had never disclosed a confidential medical situation to reporters. No one would have known. It’s not Rokita’s fault that she spoke to reporters and spilled the beans, endangering the safety and privacy of her patient.
But Bernard isn’t really interested in the safety of children who come to her raped and abused. Or at least she wasn’t in this case because questioning revealed that Bernard knew the child was likely being raped in her home, but she sent her back to her rapist.
“How did this girl get sent back to her home for 5 days?” John Strobel, MD, of the Indiana Medical Licensing Board, asked Bernard.
“I think the challenge is that realistically there are many situations in which people live with their perpetrator long after the abuse occurred,” Bernard said, noting that the decision belonged to the Department of Child Services. “Luckily, that is not a decision that I as a physician have ever had to make. I can’t imagine how difficult that that must be.”
But it’s really not that difficult if a mandated reporter steps in and says, “No, we can’t send this child back to be raped again.” Hospital officials and doctors have always had the right to take custody of abuse victims. If social services wouldn’t do their job (which they didn’t) then medical professionals can do theirs or at least try. Bernard just sent her back with her abuser and then told everyone what a hero she was to give the child “life-saving” medical care. Meanwhile, the 10-year-old learned that even when all the adults around her knew what was happening to her no one cared enough to make it stop. But they sure cared about that abortion story, didn’t they?
After deliberation, the board ultimately decided that Bernard did violate state privacy laws and HIPAA when discussing the case, partially because of the uniqueness of the case and its wide publicity. “I think protecting the patient’s information is more important than making the point to the media,” said Strobel.
From the beginning when PJ Media broke this story, I maintained that I believed Bernard’s goal was in making a media spectacle of her patient instead of caring for abused children. Indiana’s Medical Board is now on the record agreeing with me.
The board found that Bernard did not violate reporting laws, and if that’s the case, then reporting laws need to be seriously reformed. It is unconscionable that social services in Indiana did not step in and refuse to let the child go back to her abuser. Social services in Ohio also dropped the ball and didn’t bother to remove her. The police had to remove the perpetrator at least a week later after the story blew up on a national scale and two Attorneys General were calling for justice.
Related: Ohio 10-Year-Old Rape Horror Spotlights Child Protection Agencies and Lack of Transparency
The reprimand is a slap on the wrist for Bernard, but it’s one we’re happy to see administered even if she will be allowed to continue practicing. Her days of politicking without being noticed as the partisan tool she is are over. It should also be noted that the much-maligned Todd Rokita has been justified in his inquiry into Bernard now that the medical board found her in violation of the law. The Attorney General of Indiana deserves thanks for holding her accountable and sending a message that this kind of behavior isn’t tolerated in Indiana. Bernard’s lawsuit against Rokita for the “political attack” she claims happened will most likely go quietly away now if it hasn’t already.
Gerson Fuentes is still awaiting trial for the rape of the child.
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