Woman accused of posing as nurse arrested for treating more than 4,000 patients
A woman from Florida was arrested for allegedly posing as a nurse and treating more than 4,000 patients for almost a year.
Autumn Bardisa was arrested on Aug. 5 after a month-long police probe into her alleged scheme of practicing as a nurse without a valid medical license from June 2024 to January of this year.
Detailing the incident, the 29-year-old Florida resident had been employed as an advanced nurse tech at AdventHealth Palm Coast Parkway in Palm Coast since January 2023.
"When applying for the position, Bardisa indicated that she was an 'education first' registered nurse, meaning that she passed the required schooling to become a registered nurse but had not yet passed the national exam to obtain her license," the Flagler County Sheriff's Office stated in the news release.
It noted that during the hiring process, Bardisa said that she had passed the exam and provided a license number. Upon checking, the license matched her name, but had a different surname. She explained that at the time she had gotten married, but didn't present anything to the hospital when asked to provide a marriage license.
Despite the mismatch in the records, Bardisa was offered a promotion, which raised eyebrows among her colleagues. A fellow employee checked her records and found that her valid nursing license had expired, which was immediately reported to the hospital administrators.
She was officially terminated from her post on Jan. 22 of this year. During this time, the hospital sought help from the police to start a criminal investigation, which lasted for seven months.
"The investigation determined that Bardisa shared a first name with the other nurse, who was employed by AdventHealth, but at a different hospital, and had attended school with her. However, the two did not personally know each other," the release read.
It was also found that Bardisa has provided medical treatment to 4,486 individuals from June 2024 to January 2025 without a valid license. She was arrested on Aug. 5 in her home while wearing her scrubs.
“This is one of the most disturbing cases of medical fraud we’ve ever investigated,” Sheriff Rick Staly said in a statement.
“This woman potentially put thousands of lives at risk by pretending to be someone she was not and violating the trust of patients, their families, AdventHealth and an entire medical community," he added.
She was charged with seven counts of practicing a health care profession without a license and seven counts of fraudulent use of personal identification information.
The police are also advising the public to reach out to them if they have been treated by Bardisa in the past.
Bardisa is now under police custody on a $70,000 (nearly P4 million) bond.
