A Wisconsin Dells woman has been charged with identity theft and falsifying health care credentials after using a Milwaukee woman's registered nurse credentials to secure jobs in Reedsburg and Wausau.
Jennifer Browne was allegedly using Jennifer Price's nursing license as her own. Price has been a nurse at Columbia St. Mary's for 12 years in the Cancer Center. She said her biggest concern knowing someone posed as a nurse using her credentials is safety.
"'Did anybody get hurt?' is my first instinct and just the thought of someone else having access to medical information, equipment, medications and all those things and the patients that that could have affected," Price said.
Reedsburg police said Browne, 40, worked at Reedsburg Area Medical Center from May 31 to August 22.
“Upon confirmation of Browne’s false credentials from the State of Wisconsin, Browne was immediately terminated and referred to the authorities,” said Robert Van Meeteren, the President/CEO of Reedsburg Area Medical Center.
Through the course of the investigation against Browne, authorities discovered she held a similar position in Wausau under the same false credentials.
Browne used Prices license and forged other documents to get hired. She claimed she graduated from MATC in Reedsburg, where she only took a medical terminology class.
"The only thing I can think of is her name was similar to my maiden name and she went on the like credential search lookup and just randomly picked a name," Price said.
Price's maiden name is Brown. The imposter's last name is Browne. Price said the whole ordeal is disheartening.
"I worked very hard to become a nurse. This is not an easy thing to achieve. You should have went to school and really pushed hard, and got it for yourself and be proud of that versus trying to steal someone else's life," Price said.
Hospital officials said they have started to implement additional precautions and procedures to identify such criminal activity earlier, and are working with State Health officials and legislators to better protect the access to licenses and verification process for all Wisconsin hospitals.
Browne will appear in court in Sauk County on November 16.
