A Maryland woman is currently mounting a criminal defense against allegations that she practiced as a physician assistant without the appropriate license. The woman, age 36, was arrested in late August in connection with the allegations. She was working at the Centreville office of Dr. Julio Ramirez, a position she held for about two months before the legal allegations surfaced.
The woman in this case appears to have obtained certification as a surgical assistant, but not a physician assistant. PAs provide a higher level of care, such writing prescriptions and administering mediations, with many of the same duties as a doctor. Surgical assistants do not maintain this same level of responsibility.
Investigators say the woman has admitted to altering some of the documents she used to get the job at the pediatrician's office. Instead of holding a master's degree, for instance, the woman has only earned a certificate in biology. It appears that the woman may have taken on the name of another qualified worker in order to continue working at the physician's office. In other words, she is accused of assuming the identity of another woman, whose name was just one letter different from her own. She took that woman's license number for background check purposes.
The woman is facing formal charges of unauthorized use of a title, fraud in using someone else's name and issuing a false document, among others. A recent hearing in the case set the woman's bail at $10,000. The woman remains in custody at this time, having failed to make that bond. A trial in the Queen Anne's County physician assistant case is forthcoming on Nov. 14, but she also faces theft charges in Anne Arundel District Court.
In this case, the woman has admitted to some of the misdeeds. Generally, defendants are not assumed to have committed any wrongdoing before they enter a court of law, unless they implicate themselves. Criminal defense attorneys can help defendants learn more about their legal rights, allowing them to develop the best strategy for their personal defense.
Source:
www.myeasternshoremd.com, "Woman charged with practicing as physician assistant without a license" Jack Shaum, Oct. 25, 2013