A Hunt Regional doctor has been indicted for obtaining protected individual health information for patients not under his care and without authorization, announced Alamdar S. Hamdani.
The case against Eithan Haim, 34, of Dallas, has now been unsealed. He is set to make his initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Yvonne Y. Ho in Houston at 2 p.m.
The four-count indictment alleges that Haim accessed personal information, including patient names, treatment codes, and the attending physician from Texas Children’s Hospital’s (TCH) electronic system without authorization. He allegedly obtained this information under false pretenses and with intent to cause malicious harm to TCH.
According to the indictment, Haim was a resident at Baylor College of Medicine and had previous rotations at TCH as part of his residency. In April 2023, he allegedly requested to reactivate his login access at TCH to access pediatric patients not under his care. The indictment claims he obtained unauthorized access to personal information of pediatric patients under false pretenses and later disclosed it to a media contact.
Haim leaked documents to journalist Christopher Rufo in May 2023, showing that Texas Children's Hospital continued operating its child gender clinic against state law after they claimed it had been shut down. Rufo stressed that none of the documents he obtained from Haim included patients' personal information at the clinic. However, the indictment states that Texas Children's Hospital was harmed by Haim’s actions.
"As a result of Haim’s actions, TCH resulted in financial loss, medical delays in previously scheduled patients as well as threats and harm to its patients and esteemed physicians. In furtherance of his malicious intent, Haim obtained unauthorized HIPAA-protected information and intentionally contacted a media outlet to grossly mischaracterize TCH’s medical procedures in order to damage the reputation of TCH and its physicians and to promote his own personal agenda," the indictment states.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton released an opinion in February 2022 that stated gender-affirming care for kids could be a form of child abuse under state law. The following month, Texas Children's Hospital issued a statement saying it would stop all treatments and surgeries on children related to transgenderism.
If convicted, Haim faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a maximum possible fine of $250,000.