Physician sentenced for illegally accessing medical records

A former emergency room resident physician has been sentenced to one month in prison for unlawfully accessing protected health information and sharing an explicit photo of a patient, KCRG reported Jan. 16. 

Gabriel Alejandro Hernandez-Roman, MD, 31, committed the offenses while working in emergency rooms at hospitals in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, Iowa, between 2020 and 2022.

According to court documents, Dr. Hernandez-Roman pleaded guilty on June 28 to wrongfully obtaining individually identifiable health information under false pretenses. Prosecutors revealed he accessed the medical records of multiple women without their knowledge or consent, none of whom were under his care.

The violations were uncovered after an Iowa City hospital received an anonymous complaint alleging Dr. Hernandez-Roman was romantically involved with patients, accessed their medical records, and made threats against them.

Further investigation revealed that Dr. Hernandez-Roman had taken a photograph of a patient at a Cedar Rapids hospital, and shared it with another person via Snapchat.

In addition to the prison sentence, Dr. Hernandez-Roman was fined $1,000 and will serve three years of supervised release following his incarceration.

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