Crank Calls Make a Comeback with a New Twist as One Man Plays Breast Doctor

by editor

Of course you don't want private medical records out of your hands--but what if someone who isn't really a physician phones you to fill in any gaps in those docs? If you get a call from a doctor who inquires about breast exams, it may just be a clue he's a phony. Especially if he asks you dirty things in the night.

The Akron General Medical Center website includes a link that says "Talk to your Doctor". Note that link doesn't indicate a doctor will be calling you. There's either one bored guy -- or one sick one -- in the Akron area. He's been having fun with phones.

The Akron General hospital ranks among the most recent medical facility that's been forced to warn Ohio residents of a guy who claims to be one of theirs -- one of their physicians, that is. The hospital refuses to lay claim to this kinky 'doc'.

If you've ever complained that your doctor doesn't have the best bedside manner, this guy might just lower your expectations.

He's making harassing phone calls to area residents. Those "house calls" seem to be reaching an older, and perhaps more naive, group of women. The first indicator may be the age range that still depends on landlines. Among the most recent is a 64-year-old woman who got an early ring from a man claiming to work for Akron General -- specifically as a doctor. He got a good start before the woman's dawning of an idea that something may have been awry.

She freely gave stats to make anyone raised in the digital age shudder. But they apparently seemed innocent to her. Height, weight and age were all freely provided to the good 'doctor' before he moved on to more intimate questions like mammograms. Most under the age of 65 know what's coming next. The subject related to breasts then moved on to more than testing by machines, the supposed physician asking the woman about self-performed breast examinations. And that's when all hell broke loose.

Explicit questions about anatomy were to follow. Unlike the younger generations with a far different response, the woman informed the fake doc that she found the questions “unsettling". Then she phoned police.

Apparently it's all been going on for about a year. Complaints have been coming in about similar experiences from other women throughout Akron. Some have been patients at Akron General -- others not. Robinson Memorial Hospital in Ravenna patients also seem to be on that prize list. The similarity: those calls all arrive as "private" caller. It hasn't served as a tip-off. Nor, it seems, has it served as a tip-off that the man phoning may not even be using each woman's actual (true) doctor's name. He uses just two.

Perhaps it's too hard to remember more than two names.“Dr. Franco” or “Dr. Ross" must cover a lot of territory -- calling on supposed behalf of more than one Akron hospital. And he seems to have a day job, somewhere.

The calls come in late at night or early in the morn. Apparently it's no tip-off to patients that those after-hours (or before-hours) calls aren't arriving as “Akron General” via caller ID. NOr are they arriving during office hours. But no one can expect those basics to spark suspicion -- these are the same people freely answering personal medical questions over the phone, sight unseen.

Location