An Indiana physician has dropped a lawsuit that aimed to halt the state’s lawyer common from investigating her after she offered an abortion to a 10-year-old Ohio youngster who was raped.
Attorneys for Dr. Caitlin Bernard of Indianapolis voluntarily nixed the lawsuit filed final month in opposition to Indiana Republican Lawyer Basic Todd Rokita, in response to courtroom filings Thursday. The lawsuit argued by Rokita’s workplace was wrongly justifying the investigation with “frivolous” shopper complaints submitted by folks with no private data concerning the lady’s remedy.
Marion County Choose Heather Welch dominated that Rokita may proceed investigating Bernard, a call that got here two days after the lawyer common requested the state medical licensing board to self-discipline the physician.
Rokita alleged Bernard violated state legislation by not reporting the lady’s youngster abuse to Indiana authorities and broke affected person privateness legal guidelines by telling an Indianapolis Star reporter concerning the lady’s remedy.
However Welch additionally dominated Dec. 2 that Rokita wrongly made public feedback about investigating Bernard earlier than he filed the grievance with the medical board.
The decide wrote Rokita’s statements “are clearly illegal breaches of the licensing investigations statute’s requirement that staff of the Lawyer Basic’s Workplace keep confidentiality over pending investigations till they’re so referred to the prosecution.”
After the newspaper cited that case in a July 1 article about sufferers heading to Indiana for abortions due to extra restrictive legal guidelines elsewhere, Rokita advised Fox Information that he would examine Bernard’s actions, calling her an “abortion activist performing as a health care provider.”
Bernard’s lawyer, Kathleen DeLaney, has maintained the lady’s abuse was reported to Ohio police and youngster protecting providers officers earlier than the physician ever noticed the kid. A 27-year-old man has been charged in Columbus, Ohio, with the lady rapping. Public data obtained by the Related Press additionally present Bernard met Indiana’s required three-day reporting interval for an abortion carried out on a affected person youthful than 16.
DeLaney additionally mentioned in a press release Thursday that their focus has shifted to the grievance with the licensing board and they’ll proceed “defending Dr. Bernard and her medical license in opposition to Rokita’s baseless assaults.”
“Rokita’s actions set a harmful precedent imperiling the availability of authorized affected person care and jeopardizing the confidentiality of affected person medical data,” DeLaney mentioned. “And Rokita continues to take these actions at taxpayer expense.”
Rokita’s workplace didn’t instantly reply Thursday to a request for remark.