Boy facing charges for impersonating doctor's assistant
The father of a boy who is facing charges for allegedly impersonating a doctor's assistant said he's baffled by his son's action.
Matthew Scheidt Sr. said he had no idea what his 17-year-old son was up to and he has no explanation for what he did.
He told US reporters: "If you can come up with a reason, I'm all ears. I'm completely and totally all ears... I don't know if I should get him psychological help. I just don't know."
The boy, Matthew Scheidt, was arrested on Friday accused of impersonating a physician's assistant for five days at a central Florida hospital.
His prank has been described as incredibly dangerous with horrendous consequences if something had gone wrong.
According to local police, the brazen teen spent time in the operating room and emergency room. Not only did he have access to restricted patient information, he also conducted exams and attempted to provide patient care.
Doctors told police they saw Scheidt wearing scrubs, a lab coat and his badge. He allegedly cleaned and dressed wounds and removed an IV for a patient who was being discharged.
He also performed physical exams on disrobed male patients and on his second night as a 'physician's assistant', he allegedly did chest compressions on a patient in cardiac arrest.
According to the police report, it all started late last month when the teen went to the human resources office at the Osceola Regional Medical Center and requested a new hospital badge.
He allegedly informed staff that he was a physician's assistant in a university program. Although he reportedly gave different information to two different members of staff, he was still given a badge with the title of Physician's Assistant.
According to US ABC, he then turned up at the emergency room and told staff he was 23-years-old that that his mother was an executive with the corporation that owns the hospital.
He managed to play doctors and nurses for six days until emergency room staff suspected something was awry and contacted human resources.
Scheidt was arrested on 2nd September and charged with five counts of impersonating a physician assistant.
According to the Osceola Regional Medical Center, the patients Scheidt treated during his stint in the ER have all received the medical care they required.
