Teen Posed As Doctor - A 17-year-old boy has been detained after he was caught posing as a doctor for a month at a West Palm Beach Florida hospital.
The teen posing as a doctor was caught on Tuesday after a patient reported the imposter to St. Mary's Medical Center staff, who immediately called the police.
According to police reports, "St Mary's Medical Center staff inside the OB/GYN office were alerted by a patient that a young black male who appeared to be a child was dressed as a doctor."
The teenager was wearing a white lab coat which had a St. Mary's logo sewed on the front.
The teen, whose identity has not been released, posed to be an ob-gyn. He reportdly wore a face mask and carried a stethoscope around his neck and went around telling everyone he was a doctor.
"He was wearing a lab coat, a white coat very similar to a doctor's coat," Dr. Sebastian Kent, an ob-gyn who met the teen posing a doctor said. "Initially and certainly looking back retrospectively, I thought you know this person looks so young...And I just [thought]: 'Boy they're getting out of med school really quickly now."
Kent said he had met the teen several times but they never spoke about medicine and he never saw the teen administering drugs to any patients within that time.
However, a few hours before he was busted, the teen posing as doctor left a Post-It note for Kent asking him to call him. When the ob-gyn called the teen he requested Kent take him as an intern in the facility.
Dr. Kent became suspicious when he inquired about his schooling background and experience.
"Every minute there was a different school. He was from one place, then he was from someplace else," Kent said. "The story started to get a little more vague...He did remind me of the kids that I tutor in high school. Just the kind of language he used...Just his way of expressing himself."
Although Kent did not immediately call the police, the teen's time as an imposter was up. Police officials were already alerted and they arrived at the center and questioned the teen outside.
According to police reports, the teen said he was a doctor and had been practicing for years, adding that official should call his family for proof.
When the child's mother was contacted, she said he had been suffering from an undisclosed illness and is currently under the care of a doctor but has refused to take his medications for some time now.
The teen posing a doctor was released to his mother's custody after St. Mary's hospital refused to press charges because he did not have any contacts or administer drugs to any patients.
"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," police statement read.
