An Iowa emergency room doctor has been sentenced to a month in jail for violating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Dr. Gabriel Alejandro Hernandez-Roman, 31, from Isla Verde, Puerto Rico, pleaded guilty on June 28, 2024, to wrongfully obtaining individually identifiable health information under false pretenses.
Dr. Hernandez-Roman admitted that between 2020 and 2022 he accessed protected health information of several women without authorization while working as a resident doctor in hospitals located in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. The unauthorized access occurred at "Hospital-1" in Cedar Rapids and "Hospital-2" in Iowa City.
In January 2022, Dr. Hernandez-Roman viewed medical records of an individual identified as "K.F." at Hospital-1 without her consent. K.F., who was not his patient nor admitted to the emergency department at that time, discovered the breach when Dr. Hernandez-Roman requested she falsely claim she had permitted him to access her records.
The doctor also accessed K.F.'s records at Hospital-2 in March 2021 and those of another woman known as "M.C." in October 2020. After receiving an anonymous tip about Dr. Hernandez-Roman's inappropriate conduct with patients, Hospital-2 found evidence of unauthorized access involving K.F.'s and M.C.'s records, including sensitive psychological details.
Furthermore, in January 2022, Dr. Hernandez-Roman sent a photograph via Snapchat depicting a patient from Hospital-1 wearing a gown with their rectum exposed. He later admitted sending this image but claimed it was intended for his mother as part of a fabricated explanation related to dietary advice.
In June 2023, he acknowledged these actions in correspondence with the Iowa Board of Medicine but falsely stated his reasons for sharing the photograph.
United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams sentenced Dr. Hernandez-Roman to one month of imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release and imposed a $1,000 fine on him. There is no parole available within the federal system.
Dr. Hernandez-Roman is currently held by United States Marshals pending further developments following his sentencing conducted by Assistant United States Attorney Timothy L. Vavricek with investigative support from the Iowa Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.