The dismissal of the case against Dr. Eithan Haim in U.S. district court in Houston comes as the Trump administration in its first week has already issued executive orders rolling back transgender rights.
Prosecutors had said that Haim, a 34-year-old surgeon, took the information and shared it with a conservative activist with “intent to cause malicious harm” to Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, one of the nation’s largest pediatric hospitals.
Haim works in the Dallas area but had previously worked at Texas Children’s Hospital as part of his residency. The indictment alleged that Haim asked to reactivate his login there and in 2023 began accessing information on pediatric patients not under his care and then turned it over to a media contact.
HIPAA will still and should get him terminated. It was not an accidental HIPAA violation for sure and HIPAA is one of strongest privacy laws. Healthcare gets slapped with fines all the time. They do not get ignored and most healthcare agencies have harsh policies around it. Ive known some incidents of fines, corrective actions, and terminations