On June 23, 2026, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced some shocking figures. As part of a nationwide crackdown on healthcare fraud, 455 people, including 90 healthcare professionals, were indicted for their involvement in healthcare fraud cases totaling more than $6.5 billion. All of these medical expenses were from our tax dollars. However, there was another fraud case that sent a chill down my spine even more than the sheer size of the amount involved.
A woman named Carleen Noreus ran a large-scale degree-selling scam in South Florida. She sold fake nursing degrees to people who had not completed any of the required training. Over a period of seven years, she issued approximately 3,000 fake degrees, totaling about $25 million. In other words, a system had been in place for years whereby anyone could obtain a certificate stating they had “graduated from nursing school” simply by paying money. This scam was uncovered as part of a large-scale federal investigation called “Operation Nightingale.”
And the most terrifying part is yet to come. Among the “graduates” who purchased fake degrees, more than 2,200 passed the Nurse Licensing Exam (NCLEX) and were actually working as licensed nurses in hospitals across the United States.
There is no educational foundation to support their licensure. They have a severe lack of clinical experience. Yet they passed the exam, donned nursing uniform, set up IVs, administered medications, and assessed changes in patients’ conditions. These “nurses” may never have received the necessary training. Experts have pointed out that this poses a “serious risk to patient safety.”
If this incident is just the tip of the iceberg…
Even at this very moment, there may be “nurses” who haven’t received adequate training caring for patients at some hospital. However, we patients have no way of verifying whether the nurse standing before us is a real one. I’d like to say, “Let’s be careful,” but there’s no way to be careful. That, in fact, is what makes this incident so truly terrifying.
Your Body, Your Health, Your Life 