Alleged physician assistant impersonator appears at hearing

OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — A teenager accused of impersonating a physician assistant at Osceola County Regional Medical Center appeared at a hearing on Thursday.

A newly-filed deposition shows a human resources employee at the hospital gave Matthew Scheidt a physician assistant I.D. without seeing any documentation that he should have one, and he kept trying to get a key card to get into locked doors at the hospital.

Osceola Regional Medical Center tried to fight the state's subpoena for names and contact information for all patients who might have been treated by Scheidt when he allegedly pretended to be a physician assistant.

"That information is confidential. That patient has the right to expect privacy," said Kevin Napper, hospital attorney.

But prosecutors said they had no other way of finding Scheidt's potential victims, and argued the hospital is not the patient and has no right to fight the subpoena.

The hospital simply does not have a leg to stand on," said prosecutor Bradley Fischer.

The hospital's attorney argued that 60,000 documents would have to be reviewed to retrieve the names.

Circuit Judge Jon Morgan questioned that and ordered the patients' names to be turned over and sealed.

Scheidt's mother said she's concerned for him.

The depositions show hospital worker Adam Frenz said he asked Scheidt to perform CPR on a patient who had stopped breathing after Frenz had done it for two minutes.

The documents state that he thought Scheidt was a student, and said it was a good chance for him to learn.

Frenz said he asked Scheidt, "Do you want to do the CPR?" and Scheidt said, "Sure" and did.

Frenz testified it was common for the hospital to allow students to perform CPR in those situations.

The hospital has one month to turn over the patients' names.

Prosecutors said the family of the woman who received CPR from Scheidt and later died, has settled with the hospital.

Prosecutors wanted records for all settlements, but the judge said no to that.

Following Scheidt's arrest for impersonating a physician assistant last year, he was released into his mother's custody.

But in January, he was arrested again for impersonating a police officer in Miami.

WFTV