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Parents Outraged After Phony Doctor Examines Children At Philadelphia High School

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Parents at Washington High School in Northeast Philadelphia are furious.

They recently learned a woman identified through school district documents and student physical evaluation forms as Dr. Renita Bey of West Philadelphia was no doctor. At least not one properly licensed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

"The physicals they had by the doctor at school was a phony doctor," one mother said.

This Washington High School mother spoke to us on the condition of anonymity, fearing retaliation for speaking out.

The story began last spring when the district announced in emails obtained by Eyewitness News that "Dr. Renita Bey" would be at Washington High School on June 1 and 2 to administer physicals for student athletes. The cost - $20.

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In an interview, the high school mother says her children were examined by Bey at the high school on those dates in June. No immediate red flags went up, she said.

"You trust the athletic department. They didn't do their due diligence to protect my child," she said.

Eyewitness News dug into Bey's records, and made some alarming finds.

It turns out the medical identification number Bey allegedly used on the student physical form doesn't exist, according to a state department spokeswoman. That number, 999993, was not in the system.

This mother says she only found out about all of this last month, when word began to spread that children at Washington would have to be re-evaluated.

It took six months until it was discovered Bey, in this mother's words, was a fraud.

An email soon followed, where the district confirmed all of Bey's physicals had to be done over. Nobody was at Bey's West Philly home when Eyewitness News came knocking. Messages left for her were not returned.

"Very angry, but very scared," the mother said. "Thank God the children weren't hurt."

Other parents, like Rachel Hall, who had a child at Washington, were also stunned.

"How can they let that slide? You have to have clearances to volunteer for your kids and everything. You can't let that slide. How'd that happen," Hall said.

A spokesman for the Philadelphia School District wouldn't respond to many of our specific questions about this. It is unclear if the district contacted law enforcement, or how any students actually were examined by Bey. A spokesman for the Philadelphia Police Department did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

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A district spokesman did provide a statement, written in part: "The School District of Philadelphia works closely with the Athlete Health Organization every year to make sure thousands of students get proper physicals."

The district said, as a result of these revelations, new protocols and procedures are in place to keep anything like this from happening again.

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