Impostors show up, but flee when challenged
Officials at two small hospitals in New Jersey confirm that impostors tried to gain access to their facility in scenarios that match the accounts heard from other hospitals across the country.
The impostors went to Newton Memorial Hospital in Sussex County, NJ, on Sunday, March 27, 2005, at about 4:45 p.m., says Brian Grace, director of marketing and public relations.
Three men identified themselves as doctors to an individual in the lobby of the hospital in Sussex County and began asking questions concerning the facility’s bed capacity, services, hospital directory, and they requested a tour of the hospital.
"They never presented any credentials, and when we started to quiz them, they decided to move on," Grace continues.
"There was some reason to believe them at first because we are hiring physicians, but then they started asking about the grounds and some information on security," he adds.
Once the men left, the staff reported the incident to hospital security and the local police. The lobby security camera captured good images of the impostors, which were turned over to the police and federal authorities, Grace says.
Staff at Newton Memorial were on alert for such impostors because they had heard about a similar incident at nearby Warren Hospital in Phillipsburg Township, a year earlier on March 11, 2004.
In that incident, an adult male of Middle Eastern appearance entered the emergency department at about 4 a.m., says Kay Shea, vice president of public relations.
"He addressed the registration clerk and asked about how many doctors the hospital had, how many employees, said he was new in the area and wanted to know the visiting hours," Shea says. "Then he noticed the security camera and turned around and walked off."
The clerk was very suspicious, partly because such a visit at 4 a.m. is so unusual, and followed the man outside.
The impostor drove off in a white van. The FBI took the security tape.
"We were fortunate to get him on tape," Shea says. "And it was a pretty good picture."
Ron Czajkowski, vice president of the New Jersey Hospital Association, said his organization used to post on its web site the names of Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations surveyors working in the state. It stopped that practice two weeks ago.1
Reference
- Brown D. Fake hospital inspectors probed — FBI investigates incidents at facilities in Boston, Detroit, L.A. The Washington Post, April 22, 2005:A10.
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