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Eric Drew

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
1 min read
Source updated August 13, 2025

Eric Drew is one of the first adults in the US to survive a double cord blood stem cells transplant for "terminal leukemia". Drew is noted for having his identity stolen during his treatment. While undergoing treatment for a rare and virulent leukemia, his identity was stolen by a medical worker called Richard Gibson. Drew fought and became the first person to force a federal criminal conviction under the Health Information Privacy (HIPAA) laws. Gibson was sentenced to 16 months in prison and had to pay $15,000 in restitution. Drew has now dedicated his life to helping patients with all types of serious and terminal diseases, and has become a spokesperson for the non-controversial cord blood stem cells that saved his life.

Drew founded in 2003 the Eric Drew Foundation, a non-profit organization that promotes advocacy for terminally ill patients.

Dateline NBC presented a segment called "Fighting cancer... and an ID thief " on Eric Drew's story on December 25, 2005.

Watch videos about Eric DrewExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

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This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Eric Drew”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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Related topics

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 is a United States Act of Congress enacted by the 104th United States Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on August 21, 1996. It aimed to alter the transfer of healthcare information and stipulated guidelines by which personally identifiable information maintained by the healthcare and healthcare insurance industries should be protected from fraud and theft, and addressed some limitations on healthcare insurance coverage.

Identity theft

Identity theft, identity piracy or identity infringement occurs when someone uses another person's personal identifying information, such as their name, identifying number, or credit card number, without their permission to commit fraud or other crimes. Coined in 1964, the term identity theft has been legally defined in both the UK and the U.S. as the theft of personally identifiable information.