Teen Disguised as Doctor Fools Hospital Staff for a Month: Police
A teen dressed in a white lab coat allegedly convinced employees at a Florida hospital that he was a doctor for a full month before a suspicious patient alerted authorities.
The Smoking Gun reports that police detained the 17-year-old on Tuesday after a patient told staffers at the St. Mary's Medical Center that the teen—who "appeared to be a child"—was in an examination room in the OB/GYN department.
Hospital workers told police that they spotted the teenager inside an exam room while an actual doctor was conducting a patient examination.
The teenager's mother told police that her son is under a doctor's care and refuses to take prescribed medicine. Cops and hospital officials declined to pursue charges against the boy, who was detained by officers as he sought to leave the medical facility.
As detailed in the police report, cops spoke to a pair of security guards who told of previously seeing the boy inside the hospital's outpatient facility. One guard said the teen was known as a "doctor," and been around the building for about a month. The second guard said he had observed the youth enter secured areas of the facility during the prior week.
When confronted by police, the boy allegedly identified himself as a doctor and was wearing a white lab coat embroidered with the St. Mary's logo. He'd also been spotted wearing surgical masks and a stethoscope, according to the police report.
UPDATE: Fox 13 spoke to a doctor at the hospital:
"He presented himself with a patient of our practice and introduced himself as Dr. Robinson," Dr. Sebastian Kent said, an OB/GYN with St. Mary's Medical Center.
According to the police report, the teen was inside the examination room with a patient when Dr. Kent conducted an exam.
"The first thing I thought was, 'I am getting, I am really getting old because these young doctors look younger every year," Dr. Kent said.
