"Frank Abagnale succesfully impersonated both an airline pilot and a chief resident pediatrician (among any other number of ruses)."
Posted on 12/13/2010 7:51:30 AM PST by KeyLargo
Pilot duped AMA with fake M.D. claim
Article updated: 12/12/2010 07:08 PM AP EXCLUSIVE:
MILWAUKEE (AP) — He seemed like Superman, able to guide jumbo jets through perilous skies and tiny tubes through blocked arteries. As a cardiologist and United Airlines captain, William Hamman taught doctors and pilots ways to keep hearts and planes from crashing.
He shared millions in grants, had university and hospital posts, and bragged of work for prestigious medical groups. An Associated Press story featured him leading a teamwork training session at an American College of Cardiology convention last spring.
But it turns out Hamman isn't a cardiologist or even a doctor. The AP found he had no medical residency, fellowship, doctoral degree or the 15 years of clinical experience he claimed. He attended medical school for a few years but withdrew and didn't graduate.
His pilot qualifications do not appear to be in question — he holds the highest type of license a pilot can have, a Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman said. However, United grounded him in August after his medical and doctoral degrees evaporated like contrails of the jets he flew. He resigned in June as an educator and researcher at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Mich., after a credentials check revealed discrepancies, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Doctors who worked with the 58-year-old pilot are stunned, not just at the ruse and how long it lasted, but also because many of them valued his work and were sad to see it end.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailyherald.com ...
"Frank Abagnale succesfully impersonated both an airline pilot and a chief resident pediatrician (among any other number of ruses)."
I can’t believe any company would insure him without a background check.
Let’s not forget Ferdinand Waldo Demara, portrayed by Tony Curtis in the 1960 movie “The Great Imposter”.
There is no evidence to support your statement.
Shades of Ferdinand W. Demara.(”The Great Imposter”)
Makes you wonder about them doesn't it? It's one thing to discuss electrophysiology from a book. It's another to be confronted by a gravely ill patient and decide on the correct course of action. Real cardiologists do six years of residency (3 years internal medicine 3 years cardiology) - not something you can learn from a book.
There is no evidence to support your statement.
You're sure right about that, but it seems that hardly anyone posting on this thread actually read the article.
Clarifying some of the points in the article that contradict a lot of the replies that have been posted:
There is no indication Hamman ever treated a patient
Hamman's formal education consists of only an associate's degree (in general aviation flight technology) and a bachelor of science degree. After only a few years, he was a medical school drop out
As Dr. Stephen Mester, a Florida cardiologist who took one of Hamman's sessions at a cardiologist conference last spring says: "In a sense, he didn't talk about anything medical...I did not find it worthwhile"
What Hamman was doing was using his education and training in aviation simulation and applying it to medical simulations; teaching team work through the use of simulations. As it says in the article, he really wouldn't have needed to be a medical doctor to do what he was doing. Presenting himself as a medical doctor, obtaining appointments, employment positions and research grants using fake credentials, shows that Hamman is a psyche case.
In this March 14, 2010 file photo, William Hamman watches data on a computer as he supervises doctors performing euthenasia on elderly patients. Pillows are no longer used to help reduce costs.
Why not? The same pillow can be used again and again, and it's a lot cheaper than using drugs.
There is no evidence to support your statement.
How about evidence that you read the article?
...what KeyLargo said...
Just because you can bullsh!t a good game doesn’t mean you can actually play. This guy’s faking it well does NOT equate to meaning that he’s qualified.
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