Matthew ScheidtWhen Matthew Scheidt went to get a badge for his job as a clerk at a doctor's office and ended up with credentials for a physician's assistant, the 17-year-old had a choice. He could 'fess up or impersonate a health care worker. Unfortunately for the patients at a Florida hospital, the teen chose the path that's sending him to jail for a year. 

As if there weren't enough reasons to hate hospitals? Now we have teenagers masquerading as physician's assistants running around? And no one notices?

Scheidt apparently fancies himself quite the actor. Cops say they also caught him impersonating a police officer (that case still has to go through the courts). A year in jail and eight years probation sound about right for this guy. He sounds like a real threat to society.

But can we talk about the hospital for a second?

While he impersonated a physician's assistant, the teenager apparently was changing bandages, handling IVs, and conducting exams. For weeks!

He even did CPR on an overdose patient. These are all things that should have shown his co-workers how inept he was, and all could have put people's lives in serious danger. And no one stepped in over several weeks of this?

I would like to think that when I go into a hospital, everyone there cares about patient care. That means not only do they try their best to be good at their own jobs, but they are also highly aware of what their co-workers are doing.

It's the one place I'm completely cool with tattling on your co-worker. We aren't talking about too many personal calls on the company's dime here. We're talking about lives at stake!

I blame Matthew for making the wrong decision. But we need to address the fact that he shouldn't have been able to make it.

What do you think should be done to the hospital? Should they be sanctioned as well?

 

Image via Osceola County Sheriff's Office