Phony Doctor Sneaks into Oregon Hospital, 'Mistreats' Patient
Lucas Orlin Ebert wears doctor's smock and convinces patient to stop her meds.
June 24, 2011— -- Lucas Orlin Ebert looked the part. He dressed in a doctor's smock and vest with the insignia of Oregon Health and Sciences Hospital, and told a woman he was a plastic surgeon.
The 21-year-old was so convincing as a medical doctor that the woman, Sabrine Strader of Beaverton, agreed to meet him at the Portland hospital, which he had sneaked into with bogus identification.
Strader, 45, said that she had given Ebert a few thousand dollars to perform gastric bypass surgery at OHSU.
She had met with Ebert several times, and he had told her to stop her pain relievers and anti-anxiety medication that she used for panic attacks, according to the Oregonian.
"He believes what he says, so he's very persuasive," Strader told ABC's affiliate KATU.
Ebert got caught when Strader turned up at the hospital's information desk to ask where to go for her surgery with "Dr. Ebert." When hospital authorities began looking for the doctor, they realized he was a phony.
Police arrested Ebert Monday night on charges of felony criminal mistreatment and theft.
He is also accused of writing more than $2,200 in bad checks while he was staying in downtown Portland hotels. KATU also learned that Ebert is involved in pending theft cases totaling more than $57,000.
"I can't recall anything like this ever," OHSU spokesman Jim Newman told ABCNews.com. "But it doesn't look like he entered any patient areas, only the coffee shops and public waiting areas."
He said that Ebert was wearing scrubs and "looked like any other doctor walking our halls."
Ebert would not have been able to enter the operating room or the emergency room because he did not have an official electronic badge, according to Newman.
Experts say it's hard to know what motivates someone to impersonate a doctor.
"God only knows," said Dr. Carol Bernstein, associate professor of psychiatry at New York University Hospital. "What motivates someone to masquerade as someone else -- a doctor, a policeman, a fireman -- we don't know. It does depend on what is going on with that particular individual."
Court documents say that hospital video showed Ebert wheeling the woman out of the hospital.
Lt. Robert King of the Portland police said they are working closely with OHSU security police on the case. "We aren't weighing in on [the motivation] at all," King told ABCNews.com.
