A forged Karolinska degree certificate, two regions, more than 200 patients: the 29-year-old charged at Sundsvall district court with aggravated fraud

Sweden licenses doctors through Socialstyrelsen, the National Board of Health and Welfare, but according to Region Västernorrland a newly qualified graduate can work as an unlicensed underläkare under the supervision of a specialist before the licence is issued. In practice that means an employer's proof of a medical degree is often the degree certificate itself. The case now before Sundsvalls tingsrätt, the district court in Sundsvall, shows how far one forged certificate can travel through that gap.

According to SVT Nyheter, reporting on 19 July 2023, a person hired at the end of January that year as a locum doctor on a one-year contract at Hälsocentralen Gilleberget in Sundsvall presented a medical degree certificate from Karolinska Institutet and references in a CV as proof of training. The certificate was false. Region Västernorrland told SVT the person had worked for almost half a year as an unlicensed underläkare, nominally under a specialist's supervision, but appeared to have been alone with patients for most of the time and had seen several hundred patients. The fraud came to light when Region Stockholm, where the person had previously worked, contacted Region Västernorrland. Region Västernorrland reported the person to the police for forgery of documents, Region Stockholm also made a police report, letters were sent to every patient who had contact with the person and those judged to need a second look were offered an appointment with a doctor. Dan Näslund, the region's operations manager for primary care in the south, told SVT the case was extremely unusual and that he had never experienced anything like it.

Läkartidningen reported on 9 October 2026, citing Sveriges Radio P4, that the person who worked in 2023 as a locum underläkare at a health centre in northern Sweden has now been charged with aggravated fraud, having originally been reported for forgery. The degree certificate carried a forged signature, the deception was discovered after about six months, the region estimates about a hundred patients were treated and its investigation found no patient seriously harmed. The accused neither admits nor denies the offence and says she does not remember what happened. Epoch Times Sweden reported on 21 October 2026 that the charges at Sundsvalls tingsrätt are aggravated fraud and forgery of documents, that the woman described as 29 in its headline was 26 at the time, that she had neither a medical degree nor complete upper-secondary grades, and that across posts in Stockholm and Sundsvall she saw more than 200 patients over a little more than a year while drawing salary from two regions. One mother told the paper she learnt the truth only from a letter sent by the clinic about a month after her nine-year-old was prescribed antibiotics.

The check that failed was verification at source. The certificate was accepted on its face, nobody appears to have confirmed with the issuing university that the degree had been awarded, and the employer relied on a supervision arrangement that, by the region's own account, was not always in place.

For a student or a family, the lesson is that supervision arrangements and junior titles are no substitute for a register. Before trusting a doctor in Sweden, check Socialstyrelsen's register of licensed health personnel, and before accepting any foreign placement or job offer, insist that credentials be confirmed by the issuing university, not by the person holding the paper.