US v. Russell: In 2019, images appeared on social media that appeared to show then-Justice Ginsburg was receiving treatment for cancer at GW University Hospital (which spiraled into conspiracy theories that she was already dead and that fact was being covered up). Investigation by the hospital led to Russell, who worked for a organ-donation non-profit and had access to the hospital’s records. The FBI interviewed Russell, with his boss present, and he agreed to turn over his home computer hard drive for examination. The drive he did turn over, however, was a secondary one that had recently been formatted. Russell was convicted, by a jury, of destroying and altering medical records and obtaining individually identifiable health information (he was acquitted of disposing of such information) and sentenced to 24 months in prison.
On appeal, the Fourth Circuit affirmed Russell’s convictions. First, the court concluded that there was no error in denying Russell’s motion to suppress his statement (and the evidence discovered as a result) because it was inherently coercive. While the presence of a person’s employer could be a factor that might lead to a coercive environment, nothing in the record showed such an environment resulted. Second, the court held that there was no error in limiting Russell’s cross-examination of one of those agents in an attempt to show bias, noting that the district court identified other ways to address the issue which counsel did not attempt. Finally, the court held that the type of information in the images at issue did constituted “individually identifiable health information” covered by the statute, as it included Ginsburg’s name, where she was being treated (including arrival & departure dates) and services provided.
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