Fake doctor caught ordering bloodwork, x-rays at Lakeshore ER

Montreal police say they were called to Lakeshore General Hospital's emergency room after a woman was caught pretending to be hospital staff.

Police got the call around 2 p.mon Tuesday. When they arrived at the hospital, located in Pointe-Claire, officers found the woman in crisis and confused, a spokesperson for the police service said.

CBC News was told by a source that the woman was in the emergency department for at least sixhours acting as if she was a doctor. Shewore a lab coat, a name tag anda lanyard. The hospital says she was there briefly.

The womaninteracted with patients, takingtheir names off oftheir medical bracelets and ordering blood work.

She even wrote requisitions that patients be sent in for x-rays.Police were called once staff in theradiology department grew suspicious.

Police say the woman did not resist when taken into custody, and she wassent for a psychiatricevaluation.

Hlne Bergeron-Gamache, a spokesperson for theCIUSSS de l'Ouest-de-l'le-de-Montral, says a person with "psychiatric problems" pretended to bea doctor andmade two radiology requests from the emergency room.

"The person did not act maliciously and was only briefly in the emergency room before being intercepted," she said in an email. "She was taken care of quickly and now has the care she needs."

Bergeron-Gamache said the hospital's emergency department is secure, witha magnetic access door and a security guard.

However, she added, protocol for verifying the identity of doctors will be improved.

The news of the imposter at Lakeshore hospital came while a differentwoman was making headlines for posing as a medical resident in the Montreal area, but police say these are two separate cases.

That woman is headed to a Quebec court in Longueuil for allegedly impersonatinganintern in medical clinics twice and in a hospital setting donning a white lab coat and stethoscope while carrying out consultations. She could face nearly $70,000 in fines, according to La Presse canadienne.

As for the woman at theLakeshore, police say sheis now in the hands of the health-care system. A spokesperson for Quebec's prosecution service, also known as the DPCP,says no file has been presented in this case, and there are no charges at this point.