The case of a 10-year-old Ohio rape victim who sought an abortion in Indiana just after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year became a major flashpoint in the political debate. On Thursday, her doctor was reprimanded and fined for discussing the case — and physicians worry that it will have a chilling effect on any kind of patient advocacy that conflicts with the political agenda of state lawmakers.
The Indiana medical board found that Caitlin Bernard, an OB-GYN, violated patient privacy laws in publicly disclosing that she had performed the abortion without the consent of the patient or their parents, even though she never named the patient and only provided a general outline of the case, as doctors typically do when performing health advocacy. She will be fined $3,000 and issued a letter of reprimand, but will be allowed to keep her medical license.
It’s the result of Indiana Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita, who is running for reelection in 2024, filing a complaint against Bernard last year, also claiming that she was unfit to practice because she had not stayed “abreast of current professional theory or practice.” Bernard’s lawyer previously characterized the complaint as an attempt to intimidate abortion providers.
The fact that Bernard is facing professional consequences suggests that there is a legal gray area when talking about patients in an advocacy context, even beyond the subject of abortion, that is ripe for exploitation by political actors. Dr. Tracey Wilkinson, a professor of pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine who attended Bernard’s hearing before the medical board Thursday, told Vox there was a long debate as to whether Bernard had disclosed identifiable information about the patient and witnesses who argued to the contrary.
She said her colleagues around the country were “shocked and devastated” by the ultimate decision, which showed that “politicization can really prevent us from…
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