A Florida woman was arrested on charges of posing as a nurse and treating more than 4,000 hospital patients without a license, according to an Aug. 6 Flagler County Sheriff’s Office news release.
The sheriff’s office and AdventHealth Palm Coast (Fla.) Parkway began an investigation in January after hospital administrators reported they had fired Autumn Bardisa, 29, for impersonating a registered nurse and submitting false documentation.
The hospital hired Ms. Bardisa on July 3, 2023, as an advanced nurse tech. When she applied for the position, she indicated she had passed the required schooling to become a registered nurse but had not yet passed the national exam to obtain her license. During the hiring process, she told hospital leaders that she had passed the exam and provided the license number of a person who shared her first name but had a different last name, saying that she had recently been married and changed her last name. The hospital asked her to provide her marriage license, according to the release.
In January 2025, Ms. Bardisa was offered a promotion. Fellow employees checked the status of her license and discovered she had an expired certified nursing assistant license. They reported this to administrators, who then launched the investigation. AdventHealth leaders found Ms. Bardisa had never provided her marriage license, and on Jan. 22, she was terminated for failure to confirm her identity.
Police found that Ms. Bardisa participated in medical services for 4,486 individuals from June 2024 through January 2025.
On Aug. 5, a detective arrested Ms. Bardisa for seven counts of practicing a healthcare profession without a license and seven counts of fraudulent use of personal identification information. She is currently being held on a $70,000 bond. A court date has not been announced.
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