Medical student expelled after caught forging MDs' signatures
A University of Manitoba medical student has been expelled from school after forging signatures of doctors at the Health Sciences Centre in an effort to graduate.
An investigation by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba found that Christopher Westbrook Mancuso submitted forged forms after missing 12 shifts at the Winnipeg hospital's emergency department.
Mancuso was expelled from the university's Faculty of Medicine in 2012, but the college didn't officially censure him until last month.
As part of his fourth-year studies, Mancuso was slated to work 13 shifts at the hospital's emergency department in April 2012. According the to the college, he attended only his first shift.
The college determined that Mancuso later forged signatures and comments of physicians to make it seem as though he had attended 11 more shifts.
The discrepancy was spotted by a doctor at the hospital whose signature had been forged, according to the college's report on Mancuso's censure.
Mancuso admitted the forgeries in an email to the associate dean of undergraduate medical education, writing, "Besides medicine, in medical school I learned to lie, cheat and steal, but I don't want to be a coward too."
He later said that email was written in a "moment of crisis." He also expressed remorse and acknowledged it was unprofessional to skip the shifts, according to the college.
Mancuso "described his decision to submit the forged documents as a panicked decision" and said he "attempted to retrieve the [forged] forms, but the Undergraduate Medical Education office had already sent them for processing," according to the report.
The College of Physicians and Surgeons ordered Mancuso to pay $2,080 for the costs of the investigation into his misconduct.
College registrar Bill Pope told CBC News that Mancuso cannot continue his medical education in Manitoba. As well, the college forwards all of its decisions to regulators in other provinces.
CBC News has been unable to contact Mancuso for comment.
