Brazilian woman, 27, who was arrested for pretending to be a doctor and treating around 30 patients at hospital confesses to buying diploma online

A woman who pretended to be a doctor and purchased her diploma online for $8 was arrested on her first day on the job at a medical facility in Brazil. 

Mirian Santana, 27, raised eyebrows at a government-operated clinic in Coroados, São Paulo, after treating close to 30 patients on Monday. 

Staffers became suspicious of the medical procedures that she and checked her registration number on her work documents, which matched another doctor. 

Authorities were called and apprehended her on the scene. 

Authorities in the southeastern Brazilian state of São Paulo arrested Mirian Santana on Monday for illegally providing medical services to patients at a health center. The 27-year-old confessed to purchasing a diploma online for $8 and was hired by an outsourcing company before she was busted on her first day on the job

Mirian Santana was hired as a general practitioner by an outsourcing company to work at a public medical facility in Brazil 

Santana initially defended herself from the allegations made by the medical staff and claimed that she had obtained her medical degree from a university in 2022. 

However, police contacted the school and administrators who discredited her claims, indicating that the medical program was introduced for the first time this year. 

Santana ended up confessing to the crime and told investigators that she had acquired her diploma with the registration number via the internet. 

'In view of the evidence, she was unable to support the versions presented and confessed to the crime,' São Paulo Civil Police Chief Nilton Aparecido told Metrópoles newspaper. 

Santana, who is facing illegal practice of medicine, use of false documents and false identity charges, was placed on pretrial detention Tuesday after appearing before a judge. 

The bogus doctor was hired by a company that outsources health workers to medical facilities. 

Santana claimed she was a speech therapist and was contracted at a monthly salary of about $800 to provide general practitioner care. 

The Coroados municipal government said it had informed the patients, mostly children and elderly, to schedule them for new testings.