Master of Disguise: Teen Masquerades As Doctor In Florida Hospital For A Month
On the list of things that could go wrong during a visit to the OB/GYN, a teenage boy sneaking in is pretty high up there. St. Mary’s Medical Center in Florida has a lot of explaining to do after it was discovered that a teenage boy had been masquerading around the hospital as a doctor for the past month. In fact, the teen’s elaborate game of dress-up was only discovered after a concerned patient alerted police that a man who “appeared to be a child” was taking part in the OB/GNY examination occurring in the next room.
As reported by The Sun Sentinel, a young man wearing a white lab coat and carrying a stethoscope fooled staff at St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach into thinking he was an actual doctor for an entire month. The young man’s age was withheld from the police report, but he is described as looking childlike. According to the security guard in the building, the entire hospital staff had been aware of the “doctor's” presence but had not been aware of the fact he was a minor.
On Jan. 13, hospital workers called the police due to the complaint of a patient that a child was inside an OB/GYN examination room. Even when confronted by the police, the boy continued to maintain the tale that he was a doctor, claiming he had worked in medicine for years.
Eventually the boy’s mother was contacted, and she disclosed that he did have a medical condition that required him to be placed under the care of a doctor. Although the mother did not tell media sources what condition her son had, she did add that he was currently refusing to take his medication.
Due to the boy’s age and the fact that no actual crime was committed, police decided not to press charges. The bigger question is how the teenager managed to breech the hospital’s security for so long. According to the police report, security footage showed the boy enter the hospital through a secured entrance, and he wore a lab coat with the St. Mary’s logo and the words “anesthesiology” stitched into the front.
The head doctor working in the OB/GYN office told police he did not recognize the teen, but later found a note on his desk written by the teen asking if he could “shadow” him. Although the doctor found the note odd, no actions were taken.