Israeli nursing student suspected of posing as doctor, treating 300 patients

The suspect, an employee of the Sheba Medical Center, was arrested Tuesday after allegedly treating hundreds of ER patients.

By ELIYAHU KAMISHER
Updated: DECEMBER 8, 2016 00:34
Doctor [Illustrative] (photo credit: INGIMAGE)
Doctor [Illustrative]
(photo credit: INGIMAGE)
Police arrested Hilal Azazia, 26, from Daburiyya in the Lower Galilee on Tuesday on suspicion of falsely posing as a doctor at Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer. A complaint was filed against the man a few days ago, which led to his arrest, but only after he allegedly treated more than 300 patients.
The suspect was remanded on Wednesday by the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court until Sunday on charges of impersonating a public servant, fraud and forgery.
“The complaint alleged that the resident of the North, who attended nursing school, posed as a doctor at the hospital’s emergency room and began treating patients, which he is not qualified to handle,” the Dan Region police said in a statement.
The hospital staff had become increasingly suspicious of the man, especially after he asked for advice regarding follow-up treatment for a patient who had not received any treatment.
“This is a young man with no criminal record,” the suspect’s public-defender attorney, Merav Ben-Shabat, told Ynet News. “He was a student at the hospital. He claimed that he had not received a letter of dismissal. He never claimed to be a regular employee but came as a volunteer, saying that he talked with medical officials, and it was all done under medical supervision.
He did not do surgical procedures, only the simple act of checking blood pressure.”
In a similar case in 2015, a man was arrested after posing as a doctor for four months at Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center.