“Hey there, are you Autumn?”
the deputy asked.
“Yes.”
“Can you step out of the car for me please?”
What unfolded in a Palm Coast driveway on August 5 felt like something from a scripted drama. But this was real. Autumn Bardisa, 29, blinked in disbelief as handcuffs clicked behind her back.
“Wait, what’s going on? Am I being arrested?”
she asked, her voice laced with panic.
“You are. We’ll have plenty of time to talk.”
Bardisa, still in scrubs, stood accused of deceiving one of Florida’s most respected hospital networks and of treating nearly 4,500 patients without ever holding a valid nursing license.
Bardisa’s employment at AdventHealth Palm Coast Parkway began on July 3, 2023, when she was hired as an Advanced Nurse Technician. She told the hospital she was an “education first” nurse someone who had completed nursing school but hadn’t yet passed the national licensing exam.
Months later, she claimed she had passed the exam and provided a nursing license number. That number, investigators later found, belonged to a real registered nurse named Autumn a former classmate Bardisa barely knew. The two had attended the same college but were otherwise strangers.
To explain the mismatch in surnames, Bardisa told hospital administrators she had recently married and changed her name. But she never submitted the requested marriage certificate.
From June 2024 to January 2025, Bardisa performed nursing duties across departments from administering medications to assisting in patient care treating 4,486 patients in total.
It all unraveled when Bardisa was put under consideration for promotion in January 2025. While going over her credentials, another employee, verifying her credentials, discovered that Bardisa’s sole valid certification was an expired CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) license.
Alarmed, hospital administrators launched an internal investigation. Bardisa was terminated on January 22, 2025, and the case was handed over to authorities.
Next was a seven-month investigation into Harmony Healthcare Center conducted by the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, the Florida Department of Health, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Investigators determined Bardisa had allegedly administered a birth control injection to an employee as well as sold Ozempic, a prescription drug administered for diabetes and weight loss, to an employee working at the center. These crimes could result in Bardisa receiving additional charges.
On August 5, 2025, Bardisa was arrested at her home and booked into the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility. She faces seven counts of unauthorized practice of a healthcare profession and seven counts of identity fraud. Her bond was set at $70,000.
Sheriff Rick Staly didn’t mince words.
“This is one of the most disturbing cases of medical fraud we’ve ever investigated,”
he said.
“Thousands of lives were potentially put at risk by someone who never should have been allowed near a patient.”
AdventHealth has come under scrutiny for failing to verify Bardisa’s credentials thoroughly. The hospital has since pledged to audit its hiring practices and work with authorities to identify affected patients.
The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office has asked anyone who believes they may have been treated by Bardisa to email [email protected].
These incidents expose systemic gaps in how hospitals vet their healthcare workers.
Healthcare attorney Linda Schwartz, who has reviewed several impersonation cases, explains:
“Hospitals often rely on good faith, assuming applicants are being truthful. But when someone knows how to manipulate the system, the results can be catastrophic.”
As Autumn Bardisa awaits her court appearance, the full scope of her deception is still unfolding. While no major medical errors have yet been reported, the psychological toll on patients who thought they were in safe hands is immeasurable.
.){kind=link}