Woman allegedly posed as a doctor for months
A woman allegedly posed as a doctor and worked at a hospital in Waldshut-Tiengen (Waldshut district) for months. A penalty order was issued against her. The 43-year-old had submitted a scan of an Italian university diploma from the University of Salerno to the hospital with her application, as the public prosecutor's office announced on Friday.
According to the allegedly forged document, the woman was a graduate of the "Medicine and Surgery" course. She later submitted an allegedly forged license to practice medicine from the Stuttgart Regional Council to the hospital.
She was hired and worked as an assistant doctor for anaesthesiology and intensive care medicine from February 2022 to mid-April 2022. She also received a salary during this time. The woman had applied in the fall of 2021.
Investigations revealed that no patients were harmed by the accused's work. The woman now faces charges of forgery of documents and commercial fraud. The public prosecutor's office did not want to answer a written inquiry as to how the alleged fraud was discovered.
Despite the woman's deception, no crimes were reportedly committed against patients in the hospital's anesthesiology and intensive care units. Due to the alleged fraud, the local hospitals may need to strengthen their document verification procedures.
Source: www.dpa.com
