Candidate in Florida Admits Lying About Saving Pulse Nightclub Victims

Elizabeth McCarthy confessed to Florida Department of Health officials that she fabricated claims of being a cardiologist who treated victims of the mass shooting inside a gay Elizabeth McCarthy confessed to Florida Department of Health officials that she fabricated claims of being a cardiologist who treated victims of the mass shooting inside a gay nightclub.
In fact, she wasn’t a doctor at all.
“It is a false statement. I just made it up,” McCarthy said.

She filed earlier this year to run for the Florida House of Representatives in the Orlando area. As part of her campaign, McCarthy claimed she worked at the Orlando Regional Medical Center, including the night of the June 2016 Pulse attack.

“Yes, I was working that night. I removed 77 bullets out of 32 people, and helped with the triage,” she told Florida Politics. But she eventually dropped out of the state House race as the Department of Health investigated her claims. She told investigators she was “portraying a life that wasn’t true.”

Last month, a Florida Politics investigation into her credentials raised troubling questions. Orlando Regional Medical Center said it had no record of her working there as a cardiologist. She claimed to be employed at the time by Florida Heart Group of Orlando, but that company too had no record of her.

McCarthy had claimed to have earned a medical degree from the University of Central Florida in 2014, ostensibly transitioning from nursing to cardiology, but the school had no record of her earning a degree. The Florida Department of Health said her license as a nurse expired in 2005 and that she was never a licensed doctor.

“It is really sad that this has become such a big deal” McCarthy said.



https://www.advocate.com/politics/2019/7/18/gay-candidate-florida-admits-lying-about-saving-pulse-victims