A licensed professional counselor at the Manning Family Children's Hospital in New Orleans was fired after accessing the medical records of a three-year-old girl — a child she was not treating — and sharing information from the file with her sister-in-law, who happened to be the principal of the preschool where the girl was allegedly sexually abused by a classmate. The breach was uncovered through civil litigation brought by the child's parents, Roger and Jana Williams. The mechanics of the breach are specific and damning. Claire Beaumont Poché, the counselor, used the hospital's emergency "break the glass" protocol — designed for genuine medical emergencies — to override a restriction that would have blocked her from viewing the child's chart. She then texted details to Emily France Poché, then-principal of Kehoe-France preschool, including the name of the girl's treating physician. Emily's family founded Kehoe-France in 1950; it has been owned since 2018 by International Schools Partnership, a London-based education company. The text messages, surfaced during discovery, reveal not just a privacy breach but an active effort to undermine the family's case. Emily texted Claire: "I hope she tells [the parents] that she's lying." Emily also relayed — without evidence — that "my head of school thinks the dad is abusing" his daughter. Claire replied: "I mean it would make sense if he's being so insane about this. To deflect." Roger Williams is a Bronze Star recipient for "exceptionally meritorious wartime service" in Iraq. His attorney called the baseless accusation "vile and repugnant." Claire Poché also indicated in an email that she was not notifying Louisiana's Department of Children and Family Services about the case, citing "the age of culpability" — a reference to the fact that children under 10 cannot be criminally charged in Louisiana. The Williams family's attorney argued this was irrelevant to the mandatory duty to report suspected abuse. The Williams family filed their own reports with law enforcement, DCFS, and state education authorities. The institutional response has been carefully choreographed. Emily France Poché was quietly removed from the principal role on September 4. Kehoe-France and ISP issued near-identical statements insisting they would resolve matters in court, not media. The Manning Family Children's Hospital — Louisiana's top-ranked pediatric facility per US News & World Report — did not respond to requests for comment. Claire Poché's attorney produced additional sealed texts between the two women after the initial deposition. The Williams family did not only litigate. They successfully championed a new Louisiana early-childhood education safety law. Private preschools across the state opposed it, arguing financial burden. The opposition itself is clarifying: the institutions that might benefit from less oversight fought hardest against the oversight triggered by this family's experience. Whether Hipaa enforcement follows remains an open question. Certain violations carry criminal penalties. The breach here is textbook: a non-treating clinician used emergency access to obtain records, then disclosed protected health information to a party with a direct interest in discrediting the patient's family. The case is a precise illustration of how well-connected institutions can turn the machinery of privacy, credentialing, and professional access against the people those systems are supposed to protect.
