Greek-Australian Fake Doctor Appeals Jail Sentence

A Greek Australian woman has received a five-month jail sentence for posing as a doctor. For months she told friends about her work as a medical intern because she wanted to ”feel special”.

Nora Zacardas convinced staff at Royal Prince Alfred and St George hospitals that she had completed her medical degree, and was working as an intern with Liverpool Hospital.

She even told her GP, who had treated her for 15 years, of her training and was so convincing that she was offered the opportunity to work at that medical clinic once she completed the necessary qualifications.

Magistrate Louise McManus who handed down her prison sentence said that Zacardas had ”narcissistic, histrionic and antisocial personality traits” and was a ”risk to the community”.

According to the Downing Centre Local Court, Zacardas’ neighbour Anne Papoutsis took advice from her about her chronic gynaecological problems and allowed her to watch as she was examined and treated at St George Hospital. The fake doctor then took gloves and medical equipment to help Ms Papoutsis perform the procedure at home. ”Your actions were a gross breach of trust,” Magistrate Ms McManus said.

When her close friend and Ms Papoutsis’s mother, Irene Zakis, contacted the former Medical Board of NSW following a tip-off, she discovered Zacardas had no medical training and had never worked at the hospital. Outside the court, Mrs Papoutsis said: ”I trusted her as a doctor. She was giving me advice. She told me not to have certain surgeries done. I feel manipulated and really used.”

Mrs Zakis said Zacardas examined her bowel and abdomen and accompanied her husband, Stephen, to hospital to see a lung specialist who, believing her to be a medical student, took her through Mr Zakis’s scans. ”She’s a con artist,” Mrs Zakis said.

In May, Zacardas pleaded guilty to three counts of holding out to be a registered medical practitioner under the Medical Practice Act. In the mid 1990s, she was convicted of falsely acting as a psychologist and charging patients thousands of dollars in consultation fees.

Zacardas’s barrister, Julieanne Levick, told the court that after the death of her brother in 2009 ”Ms Zacardas was feeling not special and her underlying personality traits emerged, and she called herself a doctor to feel more special in herself”.

Mrs McManus said Zacardas was at a high risk of reoffending and ordered her straight into custody. Nora Zacardas will be appealing this decision on 19 September.

(Source: neoskosmos)