INDIANAPOLIS– Indiana’s attorney general has dropped a lawsuit accusing the state’s largest hospital system of violating patient privacy laws when a doctor told a newspaper that a 10-year-old Ohio girl had traveled to Indiana for an abortion.

A federal judge last week granted Attorney General Todd Rokita’s request to dismiss his lawsuit, which the Republican filed last year against Indiana University Health and IU Healthcare Associates, the Indianapolis Star reported.

The lawsuit accuses the hospital system of violating HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) and a state law by failing to protect patient information in the case of a 10-year-old rape victim who traveled to Indiana to obtain abortion medication.

Dr. Caitlin Bernard’s lawyers later stated that she had not disclosed any personal information about the girl, and no such details were mentioned in the Star’s July 1, 2022, article. But days after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade decision in June of this year, the incident became a flashpoint in the abortion debate.

A federal judge in Indianapolis initially granted IU Health’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit in June, after which Rokita filed an amended complaint in July. Then last week, his office moved to dismiss the lawsuit, writing that the state’s initial complaints had been resolved by the actions IU Health has taken since The Star first reported on the girl’s case.

Those measures include continuing to train staff not to speak about patients in public and informing them that if they are contacted by a reporter, they must inform the public relations or communications department before responding, Rokita’s dismissal request said.

“We are pleased that the information this office requested over two years ago has finally been provided and the necessary steps have been taken to accurately and consistently train their staff to protect patients and their healthcare workers,” Rokita said in a statement Monday.

However, IU Health stated that such practices have always been in place and is discouraged by claims that these are corrective actions in response to Rokita’s lawsuit.

“IU Health has maintained and will continue to maintain its strict HIPAA compliance policies and training for its team members, as it has done for years,” the statement said. “While we are pleased that the Indiana Attorney General’s office has voluntarily requested dismissal of the case, we are disappointed that the state’s limited taxpayer funds were used on this matter after the first lawsuit was dismissed by the court on the merits.”

The Indiana State Medical Board reprimanded Bernard in May 2023, saying she violated privacy laws by speaking publicly about the girl’s treatment.

This was far from the suspension of his medical license requested by Rokita’s office, and IU Health’s internal investigation found that Bernard had not violated any privacy laws.

The Indiana Supreme Court reprimanded Rokita and ordered him to pay $250 in court costs after he admitted making statements about Bernard that violated the Rules of Professional Conduct for Lawyers.