The false doctor from Berga (Barcelona) – a 30-year-old woman – who worked for seven months in the hospital without studies or qualifications was arrested on Monday night in Vic by the Mossos d’Esquadra. She is now charged with four crimes and the investigation is still open.
Police investigations have corroborated that the impostor has posed as a nurse or doctor in at least three health centers without having a degree. In addition to her in Berga, she would have worked fraudulently at the Dexeus University Hospital in Barcelona and a Clinic in Girona. The false doctor is accused of four crimes: professional intrusion, falsification of a public document and usurpation of civil status.
It was last Thursday when the manager of the Berga hospital denounced the Mossos that a false doctor who did not have a degree had been working in the center since December, something that was corroborated by the police force. According to the database of the Col.legi de Metges in Barcelona, ??she used the collegiate number of another doctor.
The false doctor had been hired after showing a screenshot with a collegiate number as well as two photographs dressed as a doctor. A call from a private health group advising that the false doctor had tried to work at the center put the hospital on alarm. The manager of the center, Antònia Barladés, had explained that she did not yet have the title because she had just graduated. Her “prudent” attitude of her asking other colleagues whenever she had to sign a prescription or a report had already generated distrust. Upon discovering that she was not included in the database of the medical school, they opened a disciplinary file for a very serious offense and suspended her from her duties.
The Berga Hospital has admitted “important irregularities” in the hiring procedure of the false doctor and has fired the director of the center’s Human Resources Department. The woman prepared and signed reports and prescriptions with the digital signature of another doctor, using her collegiate number, according to the Mossos. In addition, the Servei Català de la Salut has opened an internal investigation while the Mossos to determine in which other centers the woman could have worked, in addition to collecting information on affected patients. The detainee will go to court in the next few hours.