Three colleges (all now closed) - Siena College of Health in Broward county Florida, Palm Beach School of Nursing, and Sacred Heart International Institute - all sold diplomas and transcripts between 2016-2021, to over 7600 people (some of whom were already LPNs), so that they could sit for the nursing boards. About one third, some 2400 people, passed.
What really gets me is that those who purchased the fake diplomas are unlikely to be prosecuted, even those who passed the boards and have been practicing as RNs with fake diplomas.
I can imagine that an RN from any of these three schools would now be suspect, since how could the person prove that they’d actually attended and received the necessary education and training, especially since 2400 people who had not, still were able to pass the licensing exam.
My daughters told us about this last night at dinner. How is it that over 7000 people were able to do this? How can you ethically feel good about going to work if you took part in this?
Granted, some people probably learned about their job, while on the job, but besides the ethics, my issue is the patient care! There are so many elderly in Florida, in nursing homes, who may or may not have received shoddy care. I would hate to think that someone may or may not have passed away because of the lack of care.
1 Like
This is why I feel that the justice department is making a mistake in not prosecuting those who bought the fake diplomas.
1 Like
They probably made that decision because the resources that would be used chasing 7,600 small fish (who may lose their jobs, etc. anyway when their association with fake diplomas becomes known) could better be used against the next big fish of this type.