DOJ Indicts Texas Doctor for Alleged Data Leak

0:00

/1861

1×

Facts

• The US Dept. of Justice (DOJ) has filed a four-count indictment against Dr. Eithan Haim for allegedly illegally obtaining and leaking medical records of child transgender care at the Texas Children's Hospital (TCH) in Houston.¹
• A Dallas-based surgeon, Haim previously trained at TCH during his medical residency. Following TCH's pledge to suspend its transgender care for children in 2022, the DOJ claims he reactivated his TCH login in 2023 to leak records showing the hospital was still doing so in secret.²
• The indictment argues that Haim 'obtained unauthorized individually identifiable health HIPAA [Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act] protected information' and 'caused malicious harm' to the hospital, patients, and doctors by releasing data to journalist Christopher Rufo.³
• TCH initially announced it would suspend transgender care for minors after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered an investigation into the matter. This was in response to state Attorney General Ken Paxton's legal opinion that it was a 'form of child abuse.'¹
• In the year following TCH's announcement, Haim, who now faces up to 10 years in jail and a $250K fine, claimed the hospital accelerated its rate of transgender procedures — including inserting a hormone device into an 11-year-old girl.³
• Texas passed a law banning transgender treatment for minors in September 2023, but it's being challenged in the courts. At least 25 states have passed laws to either restrict or ban such treatment, most of which are also being legally challenged.²

Sources: ¹Houston Public Media, ²CBS and ³FOX News.

Narratives

• Left narrative, as provided by Assigned. If illegally accessing HIPPA-protected patient records under false pretenses wasn't egregious enough, the medical services Dr. Eithan Haim thought he exposed were for important transgender healthcare treatments for vulnerable patients. Through either ignorance, malice, or both, Haim chose to illegally reveal sensitive private and protected medical records. For those crimes, he's now facing the consequences.
• Right narrative, as provided by City Journal. Eithan Haim is a hero who exposed TCH for secretly falsifying medical records to continue its harmful transgender practices after promising to stop. TCH took children as young as 11 — who were dealing with anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts — and continued its procedures regardless. Dr. Haiam's ethical motivations must be considered in the context of alleged HIPAA violations.

Predictions