Well, this is horrifying — and a great reminder not to get your medical information from randos on the internet!
Dalya Karezi started an Instagram and TikTok where she threw on her scrubs and gave free medical advice, answering questions for folks among her growing fan base who had serious health questions. The only problem? She was not and had never been a doctor. Not a nurse. Not a medical professional of any kind. She worked in a bank.
Starting in late 2019, Dalya began the ruse — posting under the name “Dr Karezi,” something she also had embroidered on her scrubs. She claimed to work for NSW Health and the NSW Cancer Institute in New South Wales. And she proceeded to give advice on everything from nutrition to cancer treatments. She racked up a shocking 243,000 TikTok followers and 20k on IG. Who knows how many people she fraudulently gave medical advice while posing as a doctor?
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What’s really scary? She may not have faced any consequences for the social media activity if she hadn’t gotten carried away in emails. Apparently in 21 emails — in which she said she was allowed to give out medicine, which she most certainly was not — she signed off with the initials RMO and VMO, standing for resident medical officer and visiting medical officer.
Her defense attorney argued down the severity of her actions, saying she was just “endeavouring to repackage already available health information” so no real harm done. He added:
“There was an element of self-promotion. Totally inappropriate, but she was in her mid-20s, and suddenly given attention on social media.”
Yeah because that makes it understandable…
On Wednesday in a court in Sydney, Australia, Karezi pleaded guilty to impersonating a doctor and pretending to be a medical specialist. The 30-year-old faced up to three years in prison and a $60k fine for the crimes. But the judge in the case, Judge Theo Tsavdaridis, sentenced her to just a two-year Community Corrections Order. This despite calling out the seriousness of her crimes in his statement. He called her lies “extensive, prolific and pervasive” — noting she “offered advice on ovarian cancer, Covid, for people’s toddlers, for uterine fibroids, contraception, paracetamol overdose.” All while wearing scrubs and stethoscope.
“Dr. Karezi” has deleted her posts and is now reportedly “engaged in rehabilitation.” Maybe she can find a new persona online as someone who gives the legal advice not to do what she did. You know, as long as she doesn’t claim to be a lawyer while doing so…
[Image via Dr Karezi/Instagram/TikTok.]
