PHYSICIAN ASSISTATNT NOT REALLY A PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT

18-year-old impersonator treated patients in emergency room

After he got busted and released on bail, he changed professions only to be busted again, this time for impersonating a police officer.

THE REAL LIFE ‘CATCH ME IF YOU CAN’: BOY, 18, IMPERSONATED ER DOCTOR AND TREATED PATIENTS FOR WEEKS (AND WAS CAUGHT POSING AS A COP WHILE ON BAIL)
Matthew Scheidt performed examinations and had access to personal records in Osceola Regional Medical Center, in Florida

By Amanda Williams

Mail Online
November 15, 2012

A teenager who pretended to be a doctor's assistant and treated patients in a hospital emergency room has been jailed for a year.

Matthew Scheidt, 18, was found guilty of working in the Osceola Regional Medical Centre emergency room, in Florida, for weeks, changing bandages, handling intravenous drips and helping to conduct physical examinations.

At one point he even performed CPR on a patient who suffered a drug overdose.

The Osceola County Courthouse heard the teenager had also had access to confidential medical records, and had worn scrubs and a stethoscope, used a pager and bought a lab coat.

He was convicted in August of two counts of practicing medicine without a license and two counts of impersonating a physician's assistant in August 2011, when he was 17.

He was arrested in September 2011 and released on bail.

But in January, he was back in police custody, this time for impersonating a police officer.

Scheidt told investigating police he had originally gone to the hospital to get a badge for his job as a clerk at a doctor's office, which was just across the road.

But the teenager was entered as a physician assistant into the computer in error, CNN reports.

A physician assistant helps a doctor treat and administer medication to a patient, and will normally undergo a minimum of two years medical training.

'And, you know, the only reason why I did do it was because there was nobody else in there. And I'm not going to let her die.'

Scheidt said he had 'messed up' but that he had just wanted to learn as much as possible.

He admitted he 'should have addressed the issue' earlier.

'I just didn't want any questions asked, like I just wanted to learn as much as I possibly could,' he added.

He was sentenced on Wednesday to a year in jail. He will then spend a year under house arrest, followed by eight years' probation.

The teenager had previously been told he could expect up to 25 years in jail.

The case has been compared to the Leonardo DiCaprio film Catch Me If You Can, were a conman evaded justice by posing under a number of aliases. These included a doctor and a pilot

A nursing supervisor at the hospital told CNN no one was available to comment.