HOUSTON — The U.S. Attorney's Office Southern District of Texas announced that 34-year-old Dr. Eithan Haim of Rockwall, Texas, has been indicted for obtaining protected health information for patients who were not under his care.
According to the attorney's office, the four-count indictment alleges that Haim accessed patient names, treatment codes and the attending physicians from the Texas Children's Hospital (TCH) in Houston without authorization.
The attorney's office says Haim allegedly accessed this information with the intent of causing harm to the children's hospital.
According to the indictment, while Haim spent his residency at Baylor College of Medicine, he had five rotations at TCH from 2019 to 2021.
During this time, Haim received login credentials to TCH's computer systems and was permitted to view patient records of those under his care, the indictment reads.
According to the indictment, following Haim's final rotation in 2021, he did not return to TCH for any additional rotations or medical care. However, in April 2023, Haim requested to re-activate his login access at TCH to access pediatric patient records that were not under his care.
Haim then was able to obtain personal information from TCH's system under false pretenses that he needed to urgently attend adult care services, the indictment states.
According to the indictment, after obtaining these records, Haim then reached out to a media contact and on May 16, this contact published protected information on X, formerly Twitter.
The indictment states that Haim's actions resulted in financial loss, medical delays, as well as threats and harm to TCH's patients.
"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.
However, it appears that Haim is preparing for an extensive legal battle as he recently posted a link to his legal defense fund on X. He claims he "blew the whistle on Texas Children's secret sex-change program."
Haim faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 maximum fine if convicted.
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