17-Year-Old Plays "Doogie Howser" at Florida Hospital

Matthew Scheidt apparently thought he had everyone fooled at a Florida hospital when he posed as a physician’s assistant and even went so far as to perform CPR, physical examinations, and accessed private patient data. The 17-year-old, who news sources have dubbed the phony "Doogie Howser", was arrested on Friday and faces felony charges.

Matthew, a medical billing clerk, allegedly got his hands on a pair of nursing scrubs and portrayed himself as a medical student shadowing other physician’s assistants at The Osceola Regional Medical Center. Matthew also lied to emergency room staff and told them that he was attending school at Nova Southeastern University, that he was 23-years-old, that his mother was a prominent executive that owned the hospital, and that he had been deputized with the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3yLB9ElA30

It all started on August 24, according to police reports, when Matthew decided to walk into the human resources department and request a new hospital badge. According to police, Matthew even told two different stories to the HR staff, but nonetheless received a "new" badge that described him as a PA with his name and picture to replace the "old" badge he claimed to have lost. In total, Matthew spent six days playing doctor until emergency room staff became suspicious over his repeated insistence that he receive access to restricted areas of the hospital. Eventually, HR contacted the Surgical Management Group, where Matthew claimed to be a PA, and discovered that he was just a part-time billing clerk. Matthew’s father recently stated that he had "no idea what his son was up to" and that he was "all ears" if anyone had any ideas. The Osceola Regional Medical Center also released a statement that they are reviewing hospital procedures to make sure a similar incident doesn’t occur again.