Girl, 17, Caught Posing as a Nurse : Spent Time at Palomar Hospital Helping to Care for Baby

A 17-year-old girl, pretending to be a nurse, helped care for a 21-month-old baby at Palomar Memorial Hospital on several occasions over a five-day period last month until she was discovered and ushered out of the hospital, a hospital official said Thursday.

The girl returned to the hospital three days later but was stopped at the door, detained and turned over to police, a hospital spokesman said.

Officials say the health and welfare of the infant was not affected by the girl.

A hospital official, who asked not to be identified, said the 17-year-old came to the hospital on Feb. 18 to visit a relative, but was dressed in a uniform “and wanted to play nurse.”

She was discovered four days later and escorted out of the hospital. Officials then circulated a picture of the girl, obtained from the relative. When the girl returned on Feb. 25, “she was recognized immediately at the emergency room entrance and didn’t get any further.”

The girl reportedly was turned over to juvenile court authorities, but a police spokesman Thursday night did not know whether the girl had been charged. Impersonating a nurse is a misdemeanor.

The Times-Advocate newspaper quoted Millie MacMillan, the mother of the 21-month-old patient, as saying the teen-ager told her she was a nurse’s assistant. MacMillan said the girl spent hours with her infant every day over a three-day period, and used a stethoscope to listen to the infant’s heart and lungs.

MacMillan told the newspaper she grew suspicious of the teen-ager because she was spending so much time with her baby at a time when other nurses seemed quite busy with other patients.

When nurses entered the room, the girl would quietly step aside or leave the room, MacMillan said. Some of the nurses apparently believed the girl was a friend of the family, MacMillan told the Times-Advocate.

But when she specifically challenged a nurse about the teen-ager’s role, the nurse said the 17-year-old did not work on the pediatrics floor but added that some nurses “really like children and they come down and visit,” MacMillan told the newspaper.

The masquerade came to an end when the teen-ager asked a nurse if she could borrow a thermometer and the nurse asked MacMillan if the girl was a friend. Discovering she wasn’t, the nurse called security guards, who escorted her from the hospital.

The hospital official said the 17-year-old first appeared at the hospital on Feb. 18, although MacMillan said she was not approached by the imposter until Feb. 20. The hospital official said he could neither confirm nor deny MacMillan’s account of the incident, and said the public hospital has since begun considering changing its policy on visitations to tighten control on unauthorized personnel.