Organ Transplant Coordinator Gets 2-Year Jail Term for Illegally Accessing Health Records of Supreme Court Judge
In July this year, a federal jury convicted a former resident of Arlington, VA, for illegally accessing the medical records of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg while employed as an organ transplant coordinator, although was acquitted on the charge of publishing that information online.
Trent James Russell, 34, was employed by an organ transplant coordination entity between 2017 and 2019 and in January 2019, remoted accessed Ginsburg’s medical records and took a screenshot of those records. When Russell discovered that his access to medical records had been disabled, he formatted his hard drive to destroy evidence and obstruct the law enforcement investigation. Russell was recently sentenced to 2 years in prison by U.S. District Judge Michael S. Nachmanoff.
August 2, 2024: Organ Transplant Coordinator Convicted of Illegally Accessing Health Records of Supreme Court Judge
An organ transplant coordinator has been found guilty of illegally accessing the health records of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and deleting evidence but was acquitted on the charge of publishing a copy of the records online.
Trent J. Russell, 34, was charged over the illegal access to Ginsburg’s health records while she was undergoing cancer treatment at George Washington University Hospital in 2019 and posting the information on the 4chan online message board, a location well known for conspiracy theory discussions. The shared screenshot showed Ginsburg’s name, treatments, and treatment dates between 2014 and 2018. Users of the 4chan platform shared conspiracy theories about Ginsburg, including one that she had died, and her death was being kept a secret to prevent President Trump from appointing a replacement Supreme Court judge.
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George Washington University Hospital officials searched access logs and identified unauthorized access to Ginsburg’s records using Russell’s credentials, with the access traced to his home computer. Russell worked as an organ transplant coordinator at the Washington Regional Transplant Community (WRTC) and had legitimate access to medical records at George Washington University Hospital to perform his work duties, which included visiting the hospital to evaluate patients for organ transplants.
Russell was aware of his responsibilities under HIPAA as he had undergone training and knew that he was not permitted to access the medical records of individuals outside of his job responsibilities, which included Ginsburg’s records as she had not been referred to WRTC as a potential organ donor. WRTC founder and former CEO, Lori Brigham, explained that coordinators had no business looking at the charts of individuals who had not been referred to WRTC as potential donors.
Russell was interviewed in 2019 over the unauthorized access and initially claimed that his phone had been stolen. He also maintained that he had not accessed Ginsburg’s records and said he had shared his hospital login credentials with other individuals. George Washington University Hospital’s chief information officer, Nathan Read, testified that Russell’s access to medical records was terminated in January 2019 when he was identified as a suspect in the case and that Russell had asked for his access to be restored a month later, but that request was denied. Prosecutors alleged that when Russell learned on February 10, 2019, that his access to medical records had been revoked, he reformatted his home computer to destroy evidence and obstruct the investigation.
A forensic investigation of Russell’s computer by the Federal Bureau of Investigation confirmed that Russell had visited multiple posts on 4chan where there were discussions and conspiracy theories, including that Democratic politicians were covering up Ginsburg’s death, along with posts about antisemitic conspiracy theories. While Russell claimed that his phone had been stolen, its location was traced to the area of his home in Arlington, Virginia at the time his hospital credentials were used to access Ginsburg’s health records.
Russell was not the only suspect in the case, as a search had been conducted of Ginsburg’s medical records by a hospital employee around the time of the data breach. That individual was ruled out as a suspect as they were deemed not to be insufficiently technically literate to post information on social media networks, although they were terminated for unauthorized medical record access.
Russell testified that he had never viewed the medical records of patients who had not been referred as organ donors. After a two-day trial at the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, VA, Russell was convicted of illegally accessing Ginsburg’s medical records and destroying evidence but was acquitted on the charge of posting those records to 4chan. Russell is due to be sentenced in November 2024 and faces a substantial fine and up to 20 years in jail.
