After pretending to be a nurse for many years, Autumn Bardisa was finally arrested this Tuesday, August 5, according to ABC News. A relief for the victims, but which questions. How to explain such a imposture? And above all, what is the psychic condition of this young woman for whom the absence of a diploma was not a brake? Amélie Boukhobza, clinical psychologist, enlightens us.
4,486 patients went into the hands of this “false nurse”
Autumn Bardisa was not cold in the eyes! To get hired and exercise the profession of her dreams, the young woman simply has … lied, many times. The 29 -year -old American was first recruited in a Palm Beach hospital as a “advanced” nurse, working under the thumb of an authorized nurse. During her job interview, she claimed to have succeeded in the training required to become a authorized nurse, but had not successfully completed the national exam to obtain her license. She then claimed to have succeeded in her exam and provided a license number with a last name from hers. A difference that the young woman explains because she would have “changed surname“Following his marriage. A marriage certificate requested by the establishment, but has never been provided.
She will not be stopped until after the report issued by one of her colleagues. She is currently being prosecuted for “illegal exercise of a medical profession” And “fraudulent use of personal information“.
“”This is one of the most disturbing cases of medical fraud on which we have never investigated“, Acknowledges the Sheriff Rick Staly, in charge of the investigation.”This woman potentially put thousands of lives in danger by pretending to be someone she was not and violating the confidence of patients, their families and a whole medical community“, He continues, quoted by the BBC.
From July 2023 to January 2025, Autumn Bardisa took care of 4,486 patients! How to explain the incredible lie (or madness) of this woman, ready to everything “to treat”? Amélie Boukhobza, clinical psychologist, answers us.
A feeling of “omnipotence” and a pathological refusal of failure
“This kind of story leaves speechless. One wonders how such a imposture can occur … and especially how it can go unnoticed to the point of allowing a person to take care of more than 4000 patients without any alert being given earlier”, Affirms Amélie Boukhobza.
In parallel, what strikes in this chilling newspaper is obviously the extraordinary determination of this “dummy” nurse.
“On the psychological level, the non-obtaining of his diploma was able to be felt very well as a humiliation, an injustice or an attack on his identity. In some, this” no “firm causes a net stop. In others, on the contrary, it triggers a kind of cable sparkle: rather than to accept failure or to retry differently, they choose to bypass the rules, as if their only will was enough to legitimize their place “, relates the practitioner.
There, we touch the omnipotence: the conviction of “knowing better than everyone” and not to be concerned by the rules. “”This mechanism often appears in profiles which very badly support frustration, failure or questioning … and which prefer to bypass the obstacle rather than to face the narcissistic injury that represents a refusal “, still specifies the expert.
“Some might see a human reflex: difficult to give up your dream. But the confusion between passion and omnipotence presents a major danger. To want is one thing. To believe it is authorized despite everything is another. In certain professions, like that of a nurse, the stake greatly exceeds the person: the security of others is threatened”, concludes the psychologist.