23 Year Old Former UCI Student Charged With Impersonating a Doctor

Ariya Ouskouian was a student at University of California, Irvine who was charged by Orange County prosecutors on August 29, 2018 for impersonating a medical doctor.

The press release from the Orange County District Attorney’s office states that Ouskouian will be charges with 1 felony count of “Providing medical diagnosis while impersonating a doctor” and 8 misdemeanor counts of “Misrepresenting oneself as a licensed medical practitioner” which carries a maximum sentence of 3 years in state prison or 8 years in Orange County jail.

Fake Doctor Gives Diagnosis at a UCI Medical Center Consult Room

Mr. Ouskouian is accused of impersonating a medical doctor on May 3, 2018 by providing a diagnosis to an unnamed patient in a consult room at University of California, Irvine regarding a growth on his neck.

Additionally, Mr. Ouskouian is accused of impersonating a doctor at Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) between April 23, 2018 and June 4, 2018. He reportedly misrepresented himself as a doctor to CHOC security personnel to gain access to restricted floors of the hospital. This is where this story gets confusing. In order to gain access to this area, he claimed that he had misplaced his security badge to security officers, and when they became suspicious and when the security officer(s) requested some verification he provided the name of a UCI staff member and convinced security personnel of his status as a doctor. He was subsequently issued a temporary hospital badge.

At this time, there are no details on what verification procedures were in place or if there was a breach of security protocol, nor are there any details of when & how staff at CHOC became suspicious of his credentials.