By now, most of you may have heard of the scandal which has rocked the nursing profession. The Justice Department has found fraudulent nursing diplomas were issued for registered nurse and licensed practical/vocational nurses were issued out of three bogus nursing schools in a sting operation known as “Operation Nightengale (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/27/us/florida-nursing-diploma-scam.html).” This comes at a critical time in healthcare where nurses are in short-supply and have been striking in several times to protest low wages, lack of adequate staffing, and overall working conditions. This fraudulent behavior has been a slap in the face by these bad actors to those of us who worked hard to become a nurse and continue to work hard in the profession.
Nursing has been ranked at the most trustworthy and honest profession for the twenty-first year in the row in 2022 by a Gallup poll (https://nurse.org/articles/nursing-ranked-most-honest-profession/). The criminal actions of these individuals may undermine the trust that the public has placed in nursing over the years. In the press release by the Florida Justice Department,
“Not only is this a public safety concern, it also tarnishes the reputation of nurses who actually complete the demanding clinical and course work required to obtain their professional licenses and employment,” said U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Markenzy Lapointe, who added that “a fraud scheme like this erodes public trust in our health care system.” https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdfl/pr/fraudulent-nursing-diploma-scheme-leads-federal-charges-against-25-defendants.
As reported in the New York Times, twenty-five people have been charged with selling over 7,600 fake nursing diplomas to individuals who then used those fake degrees to obtain nursing licenses. Buyers spent $10,000-15,000 to purchase fake diplomas and transcripts. A popular nursing site lists the average cost of a nursing program for an associates degree can range from $10,000 to $40, 000 depending on the program, private versus public education, and regional costs such as in-state/out of state tuition (https://nurse.org/articles/nursing-school-cost/). According to the NYT article, the buyers were aware they were purchasing fake credentials. However, in researching how rampant this fraud may be, not everyone who ends up in this situation is aware that the school is not accredited. Take the case of Grace Medical Training in Vero Beach, Florida. Michelle Rene Wimes is charged with operating a fraudulent school which cheated students out of $93,000 in tuition. Wimes was not certified to teach the classes and that according to one student, “the teaching was subpar” (https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/crime/indian-river-county/2022/10/19/woman-who-headed-nursing-school-vero-beach-charged-fraud/7894225001/).
In another case, an Iowa man, Enome Massango, purchased a fraudulent degree in 2018 from the National School of Nursing and Allied Health in Virginia. He was able to obtain his license as licensed practical nurse and work for four years. In June of 2020, he filed another application to receive an registered nurse license after submitting a transcript from Siena College of Health in Florida reporting that he graduated in June of 2019. He completed the NCLEX exam and was issued an RN license. According to the article, six weeks later, the IOWA Board of Nursing was notified of the FBI investigation by the national organization of the state nursing board, which informed them that both Virginia and Florida had ordered the two schools to cease operations. Mr. Massango apparently was at one time in a legitimate program, but he failed to complete the program and sought this as easy way out (https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2022/09/22/after-buying-fraudulent-diploma-iowa-man-worked-for-years-as-a-nurse/).
These situations are dangerous, not just for the individual pretending to be a nurse, but also for the patients entrusted to their care and that institutions that employ them. What remains to be seen if there will be future litigation related to the unlicensed individuals who may have cared for these patients and if there is room for criminal abuse charges against the individuals in question, as well as, malpractice claims for the institutions. The Indiana Nurse Practice act (IC-25-23-1-27) states that “a person who sells or fraudulently obtains or furnishes any nursing diploma, license or record; practices nursing under cover of any diploma or license or record illegally or fraudulently obtained or assigned or issued unlawfully or under fraudulent representation; practices nursing as a registered nurse or licensed practical nurse unless licensed to do so under this chapter or IC 25-23,3;…commits a Class B misdemeanor.” An institution who bills Medicare for nursing services as part of their hospital stay, may be liable for penalties to reimburse Medicare for monies that they were not entitled to receive as the individuals performing the care were unlicensed to do so (https://compliancecosmos.org/hospital-settles-cmp-case-about-unlicensed-nurses-self-disclosed-out-caution and https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2023/01/05/state-agency-violated-the-law-by-imposing-a-lesser-fine-for-nursing-home-death/).
Nursing is a great profession and individual who are pretending to be nurses for personal gain are a menace and need to stop.
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