Dive Brief:
- A teenager posed as a physician in a Florida hospital for over a month before he was caught, police say. The teen wore a white coat embroidered with "Anesthesiology" and the hospital logo while wandering the halls of St. Mary's Medical Center. Personnel said that they had seen him for weeks, but believed him to be a member of hospital staff.
- The teen was caught when he attempted to be present during an exam conducted by a real physician. "He presented himself with a patient of our practice and introduced himself as Dr. Robinson," Dr. Sebastian Kent said. "The first thing I thought was, 'I am really getting old because these young doctors look younger every year.'"
- The mother of the young man told police at the scene that the boy had an unnamed illness and had been off of his medication. Both police and the hospital chose not to press charges.
Dive Insight:
Although liability and HIPAA instantly spring to mind, St. Mary's has released a statement suggesting the fall-out from the incident will be minimal:
"The individual never had contact with any hospital patients and did not gain access to any patient care areas of the hospital at any time," St. Mary's said in a statement. "The hospital immediately notified local authorities, who took the individual into custody, and we are cooperating with their ongoing investigation."