A disgraced doctor from Puerto Rico, Dr. Gabriel Alejandro Hernandez-Roman, found himself in a starkly different setting than the emergency rooms he once frequented. Instead of attending to patients in need, he now resides behind bars in an Iowa prison, serving a sentence for a series of egregious violations that shook the medical community to its core.
Violation of Patient Privacy
The tale of Dr. Hernandez-Roman’s downfall began with his unlawful breach of patient privacy. The Puerto Rican doctor, aged 31, faced charges of violating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) by accessing the medical records of multiple women who were not under his care. This breach of trust occurred between 2020 and 2022 while he was working as a resident doctor in emergency rooms at hospitals in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City.
One particularly disturbing incident involved Dr. Hernandez-Roman viewing the medical records of a woman identified as “K.F.” without her knowledge or consent at Hospital-1 in Cedar Rapids in January 2022. Despite K.F. not being his patient, the doctor’s audacious actions did not stop there. He also accessed the medical records of another woman, “M.C.,” at Hospital-2 in October 2020. This breach of privacy extended to M.C.’s records from when she was a minor, delving into her most intimate health and psychological details.
Shocking SnapChat Incident
The scandal surrounding Dr. Hernandez-Roman took a disturbing turn when it was revealed that he had sent an inappropriate photograph via SnapChat in January 2022. The image captured a patient in a hospital setting, exposing a graphic and unsettling view of the patient’s rectum. This abhorrent act highlighted the doctor’s blatant disregard for medical ethics and patient dignity.
In a baffling attempt to justify his actions, Dr. Hernandez-Roman later confessed to mailing a letter to the Iowa Board of Medicine in June 2023. In this letter, he admitted to accessing the confidential medical records of K.F. and M.C., as well as sharing the offensive photograph of the prolapsed rectum. To add insult to injury, he falsely claimed that he had sent the image to his own mother as a reminder of the importance of fiber intake—a feeble excuse that only added to the gravity of his transgressions.
As the legal proceedings unfolded, Dr. Hernandez-Roman faced the consequences of his actions. Chief Judge C.J. Williams of the United States District Court in Cedar Rapids sentenced the disgraced doctor to a month in prison and imposed a $1,000 fine. Additionally, he was mandated to serve a three-year term of supervised release following his incarceration, with no possibility of parole in the federal system.
In the wake of his sentencing, Dr. Hernandez-Roman was taken into the custody of the United States Marshals before being transferred to the Fayette County jail on January 16. His abrupt fall from grace serves as a cautionary tale of the dire repercussions that await those who betray the sacred trust bestowed upon them as healthcare providers.
The case against Dr. Hernandez-Roman was diligently prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Timothy L. Vavricek and investigated by the Iowa Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, underscoring the commitment to upholding the integrity of the medical profession and safeguarding patient privacy. As the echoes of this scandal reverberate through the medical community, it stands as a stark reminder of the imperative to uphold the highest ethical standards in the practice of medicine.
