A Florida teen managed to fool everyone at a West Palm Beach hospital, acting as a doctor for an entire month. Yes, a whole month. Police said that the teen, whose name was withheld because he’s a minor, walked around St. Mary’s Hospital in the familiar white coat a doctor usually wears, plus he had a stethoscope dangling from his neck – just like a real doctor.
A security guard even mentioned that the young man was “well known” around the hospital as a doctor, and nurses said he was inside one of the exam rooms with a doctor – a real one, watching him conduct an exam and they figured he was just another doctor. The real doctor later told investigators that he had found a note in his office written by the teen asking if he could “shadow” him.
That doctor told investigators that at first he was skeptical because the mystery physician looked real young, but he shrugged it off, saying, “They’re getting out of med school real quick now,” adding that he never saw him administer any medications or even talk to any patients.
The boy “doctor” was finally discovered after a patient told a nurse that there was a young man in her exam room and that she thought he looked too young to be a medical professional. When confronted by hospital officials, the Doogie Howser wannabe said that he had been a doctor “for years” and that his family knew it.
His mother says her son was being treated for an undisclosed illness but doesn’t want to take any medication. The hospital took his lab coat and medical devices and agreed not to press charges. He had also been spotted at a second hospital in the area, but police say there will likely be no charges at all because he never administered any drugs nor came in direct contact with patients.
