A Fake Nurse in Florida Treated More Than 4,000 Patients Before She Was Arrested
A member of law enforcement said this was one of the "most disturbing cases of medical fraud" they've ever investigated.
Published Aug. 7 2025, 12:43 p.m. ET
Of all the careers a person can fake, it feels like the medical profession should be one of the more difficult. Unfortunately, we hear far too many stories of fake doctors and nurses, which leaves us wondering why it is so easy to be an imposter in that field. Back in March 2016, NBC News reported on a doctor named Malachi Love-Robinson, an 18-year-old who was practicing medicine in Florida without a license. Love-Robinson said he never actually claimed to be a doctor; he just kept showing up.
One year after Love-Robinson's arrest, Gustavo Nunez was sentenced to nearly 39 years in prison for performing illegal cosmetic surgeries on seven victims in Arizona, per the Drug Enforcement Agency. There are countless stories like these, including one in August 2025. This time, a woman in Florida was arrested after it was discovered she was posing as a nurse.
Who is this imposter nurse in Florida?
According to NBC News, the imposter nurse is 29-year-old Autumn Badisa from Palm Coast, Fla. She was hired by AdventHealth on July 3, 2023, after claiming she was an "education first" registered nurse. This means while Badisa allegedly passed the schooling required to become a registered nurse, she had not yet passed the national exam to get her license.
Badisa also provided AdventHealth with a license number that matched her first name, but not her last name. When questioned by the organization, Badisa told them she recently got married. Although AdventHealth asked for Badisa's marriage license, she never provided it. This name and license she furnished belonged to a nurse named Autumn who was employed by AdventHealth but at a different hospital.
The imposter nurse was hired as an advance nurse tech who was working directly under a registered nurse. In January 2025, she got a promotion, which led to a few of Badisa's fellow employees to look into her nursing license. "She had an expired certified nursing assistant license, which the employee reported to administrators," said the Flagler County Sheriff's Office.
Where is Autumn Badisa now?
Upon learning that the only certification Badisa had was an expired certified nursing assistant license, AdventHealth opened up an investigation into the so-called nurse. They found she never actually gave them a copy of her marriage license, which led to her termination on Jan. 22, 2025. AdventHealth then reached out to the Flagler County Sheriff's Office, which, along with the Florida Department of Health and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, looked into Badisa.
The investigation into Badisa took seven months. Law enforcement learned that she went to the same college as the other Autumn, though the two did not know each other. The actual nurse Autumn did know her identity had been stolen, but had no idea Badisa was allegedly the perpetrator. When Badisa was fired in January 2025, she had treated more than 4,486 patients.
When Badisa was arrested Aug. 5, 2025, she was still wearing scrubs. Sheriff Rick Staly said this was one of the "most disturbing cases of medical fraud we’ve ever investigated." She is in custody and is being held on a $70,000 bond. Badisa's arraignment is scheduled for Sept. 2. AdventHealth has also been charged with failing to identify that Badisa failed to present a copy of her marriage license.