Is it a Crime to Impersonate a Doctor?

Impersonating a doctor is a criminal offence in Canada. Historically, there have been incidents of people impersonating doctors for their own personal gain. 

In relation to the impersonation of a doctor, people can be charged with a variety of criminal offences, contrary to the Criminal Code. It may be possible to be charged with the criminal offence of identity fraud for impersonating a doctor.

Identity Fraud According to the Canadian Criminal Code

Identity Fraud, which is found in Section 40 of the Criminal Code 403, states that everyone commits an offence who fraudulently personifies another person, living or dead. This can occur with intent to gain advantage for themselves or another person, with intent to obtain any property or an interest in any property, with intent to cause disadvantage to the person being personated or another person, or with intent to avoid arrest or prosecution or to obstruct, pervert or defeat the course of justice. 

For the purposes of subsection (1), personating a person includes pretending to be the person or using the person’s identity information — whether by itself or in combination with identity information pertaining to any person — as if it pertains to the person using it. 

As per the punishment, everyone who commits an offence under subsection (1) is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than 10 years; or is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction. The reference to this can be found in R.S., 1985, c. C-46, s. 403;1994, c. 44, s. 27;2009, c. 28, s. 10.

Punishment for Impersonating a Doctor

As per the punishment, everyone who commits an offence under subsection (1) is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than 10 years. Alternatively, they can be guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction. This is referenced in R.S., 1985, c. C-46, s. 403;1994, c. 44, s. 27;2009, c. 28, s. 10.

Most recently, the media has paid attention to the case of "Dr. Kitty". Allegedly, Jingyi “Kitty” Wang, a 19-year-old Toronto woman, impersonated a doctor and performed cosmetic procedures on her patients. She now faces a criminal offence charge of aggravated assault.