An Asian woman impersonated other people’s nursing identities and forged professional qualifications, working as a registered nurse in several long-term care homes in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) for four years. She even rose to a nursing management position, responsible for the medical care and medication management of dozens of seniors. She has now pleaded guilty to fraud.
According to the Toronto Star, 32-year-old Anh Nguyen stole the identity information and registration number of real registered nurses and forged related documents to work in five long-term care homes in the Greater Toronto Area from June 2020 to November 2024, all of which began during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. He worked at five different nursing homes over four years, earning an annual salary of $94,000.
Court records show that Nguyen previously worked at the following nursing facilities: Villa Santa Maria in Vaughan (then known as Woodbridge Vista Care Community).
Silverthorn Care Community in Brampton;
Nisbet Lodge in Toronto;
Ina Grafton Gage Home;
Tendercare Nursing Home.
According to Ontario regulations, registered nurses are responsible for continuously monitoring residents’ health status, recording changes in their conditions, assessing whether a referral to a doctor is necessary, and carrying out the doctor’s orders. They play a vital role in the long-term care home healthcare system. However, Nguyen does not actually have any registered nurse qualifications.
The prosecution pointed out that in one of the nursing homes, she was not only responsible for supervising five personal care workers (PSWs), but also directly managed the care and medication distribution of 31 residents, including injecting prescription drugs such as insulin into the elderly.
Even more shockingly, she later served as the deputy director of nursing at one of the nursing homes, earning an annual salary of CAD 94,000, where she was responsible for working with management to plan, organize, and coordinate the hospital’s medical and nursing care. Infiltrating nursing homes in severely affected areas during the worst of the pandemic
The first nursing home Nguyen entered was now Villa Santa Maria. At that time, the facility was still called Woodbridge Vista Care Community, and it was one of the long-term care homes in Ontario most severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the first wave of the pandemic, the outbreak at the nursing home was completely out of control, prompting the deployment of the Canadian military to assist in handling the outbreak and providing care. As a result, the nursing home became a focus of national attention.
Against this backdrop, a person without nursing qualifications successfully entered the nursing team and worked there for many years. Residents face potential risks from long-term impersonation of nurses.
Prosecutor Matthew Shumka stated in court, while reading the facts of the case agreed upon by both parties, that although Nguyen was not a registered nurse, he had long: Provide direct care to residents;
Communicate the patient’s condition with the family members;
Management and dispensing of medications;
Training and directing subordinate medical staff;
Access to residents’ personal health data.
The prosecution pointed out that this behaviour not only violated the law, but also posed real risks to long-term care home residents and the operation of the institution. Identity exposed due to whistleblowing
The case was eventually exposed due to a tip-off. The College of Nurses Ontario (CNO) received a complaint that Nguyen was employed at Ina Grafton Gage nursing home, but her registration records showed that she should be working at another hospital in downtown Toronto.
The college then contacted a registered nurse who actually held the registration number and had a similar name, and advised her to report the case to the police. In June 2024, the real registered nurse filed a formal report with the Toronto Police Service, which immediately launched a fraud investigation and reconstructed her work history over the past few years based on various documents that Nguyen had forged. Several nursing homes have been found to have loopholes in their recruitment processes.
Court documents did not explain in detail why Nguyen was able to get away with it for so long, but investigations revealed that many nursing homes had obvious loopholes in their personnel vetting processes.