A Florida woman who treated more than 4,000 hospital patients without an advanced nurse tech license license was sentenced April 7 to five years probation.
In January 2025, Flagler County Sheriff’s Office and AdventHealth Palm Coast (Fla.) Parkway began an investigation after hospital administrators reported they had fired Autumn Bardisa, 29, for impersonating an advanced nurse tech and submitting false documentation.
Ms. Bardisa was hired in July 2023 after providing the license number of a person who shared her first name, but had a different last name. Ms. Bardisa explained she had recently been married and changed her last name, and the hospital asked her to provide her marriage license.
It wasn’t until January 2025, when Ms. Bardisa was offered a promotion, that leaders discovered she had an expired certified nursing assistant license, and had never provided her marriage license. On Jan. 22, she was terminated, and on Aug. 5 she was arrested and charged with seven counts of practicing a healthcare profession without a license and seven counts of fraudulent use of personal identification information.
On April 7, 2026, she pleaded no contest to unlicensed practice of healthcare and fraudulent use of an ID, according to an April 8 sheriff’s office news release.
She was sentenced to five years probation, 50 hours of community service and will be required to send an apology letter to the nurse whose license number she stole. As part of the agreement, Ms. Bardisa will also forfeit her own license, which she earned after her arrest, and be prohibited from practicing medicine during her probation.
Editor’s note: This article was updated April 10 at 8:45 a.m. CT.
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