Police in Palm Coast, Florida arrested a woman for impersonating a licensed registered nurse. Autumn Bardisa is accused of treating over 4,400 patients at AdventHealth Palm Coast Parkway Hospital in downtown Palm Coast.
Bardisa, 29, was originally hired in 2023 as an advanced nurse technician working under the supervision of a registered nurse.
When the hospital asked for her nursing license, Bardisa provided a license number that matched her first name but not her last name. Bardisa said she “had recently gotten married and had a new last name,” according to authorities.
The hospital requested to see her marriage license to confirm her identity, but she never provided one, officials said.
In January 2025, Bardisa was being considered for a charge nurse promotion. A hospital employee checked Florida’s Board of Nursing website to confirm Bardisa’s credentials and discovered she had “an expired certified nursing assistant license.”
All hospitals are required to verify an applicant’s credentials by checking the Board of Nursing website in their state.
The hospital fired Bardisa on January 22, and contacted the sheriff’s office to begin an investigation.
She was arrested on Tuesday, August 5, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office announced in a press release on Wednesday.
Bardisa had just returned home from a job at a different hospital when she was taken into custody.
She was charged with 7 counts of practicing without a license and seven counts of fraudulent use of personal identification, officials said.
“This is one of the most disturbing cases of medical fraud we’ve ever investigated,” Sheriff Rick Staly said in a statement on Wednesday.
