What to do about a classmate that is a pathological liar?

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I'm looking for some feedback on what I should do about my pathologically lying classmate. The things my classmate lies about range from slightly annoying to potentally illegal. He has been claiming to be a paramedic and holding a position as a flight paramedic at a local hospital. I have looked him up on the state regisitry and the employers website (I work at the same hospital and they are very good about updating quickly and being accurate) and they contradict what he says. I feel like something needs to be done, he lies to everyone including our professors!

Thank you for your help.

If his lies are that outrageous, the folks with clout will take care of him if he gets to be a problem.

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I do care! I don't like people lying to me or my friends. And it really only took me 5 minutes to do said investigating :) Thank you for your concern though.

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Specializes in Emergency, Telemetry, Transplant.
I do care!

There is a fine line between caring and obsessing. At this point you care, but I would stop worrying about it before your caring turing into an obsession. As has been said before, his lies will catch up with him if he carries them far enough. Let him be the one who gets him in trouble.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
I do care! I don't like people lying to me or my friends. And it really only took me 5 minutes to do said investigating :) Thank you for your concern though.

But peoole do LIE, unfortunately...

Wait until you get into the business, some pts lie abiut their past medical history, setting up for hairy comolications becasue they lied, or omitted serious information that wold've prevented complications.

The only veracity you can control is your own...most "good" liars get found out quickly, especially in this business.

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Specializes in ICU.

Why do you care though, is the question? So what if he is telling people lies. I feel sorry for him. He is probably doing it either to try and fit in or feel better about himself. He probably feels this is the way he thinks he needs to get friends. I say shame on you for feeling the need to "investigate" him and look him up. Stop being a busybody and focus on yourself. In the bigger scheme of things this make no difference.

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Specializes in Emergency Department.
Yeah, I don't really see how him lying would affect a patient. I'm not so much worried about my professors (it is just to emphasize how outrageous he is being with his lying) or my classmates (he is a joke amongst 90% of my classmates). I'm just wondering if running around and saying, "I'm a paramedic" is illegal. I'm pretty sure it's not legal for me to run around and say, "I'm an RN" or "I'm a police officer." I will not be saying anything but if anyone asks me my thoughts, I'm not going to lie :)

The only way to find that out is to check the state EMS regulations. It may not actually be illegal to simply say or claim to be a paramedic, but it probably is illegal to attempt to actually perform (work) as a paramedic without actually being one.

My advice is simple: Unless you're actually directly impacted by his statements, ignore him. Your professors may or may not know that he's not a paramedic. Regardless, they'll find out and eventually probably discipline him for it in some manner.

Unless his actions directly harm a patient or potentially so, ignore him. I might even go so far as to do something else when he starts spouting off about being a Paramedic/Flight Paramedic and just leave him behind. Immediately. He's looking for attention and nothing more. I might do other things about this, but I'm not you nor in your shoes, and I'm certainly not in your state! I won't list what I would do because this really isn't worth your time at this point.

Eventually he'll get his comeuppance and he'll have to answer for it. That's not your problem either. You really don't want to get further involved because that can only make things even more complicated for you and while you're in school, you don't want to complicate things. Keep your eyes on your own prize and work toward that goal.

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I don't get how your classmate being a pathological liar has anything to do with you? Unless, he's including you in his lies, you should probably let it go and concentrate on your own success. Nursing school is hard, I'm pretty sure you've got better things to do than to "look him up on the state registry and the employers website". His lies will catch up to him. Please move on.

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As much as possible stay out of his sphere, so people won't have the opportunity to link you. You don't want anyone to be confused, in years to come, about who had the integrity problem.

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As much as possible stay out of his sphere, so people won't have the opportunity to link you. You don't want anyone to be confused, in years to come, about who had the integrity problem.

Thanks for your concern about my "integrity", however, I'm really not worried about anyone that knows me having any doubts about my integrity. I never speak to him but with our small class size it's impossible to avoid OR ignore him.

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The only way to find that out is to check the state EMS regulations. It may not actually be illegal to simply say or claim to be a paramedic, but it probably is illegal to attempt to actually perform (work) as a paramedic without actually being one.

My advice is simple: Unless you're actually directly impacted by his statements, ignore him. Your professors may or may not know that he's not a paramedic. Regardless, they'll find out and eventually probably discipline him for it in some manner.

Unless his actions directly harm a patient or potentially so, ignore him. I might even go so far as to do something else when he starts spouting off about being a Paramedic/Flight Paramedic and just leave him behind. Immediately. He's looking for attention and nothing more. I might do other things about this, but I'm not you nor in your shoes, and I'm certainly not in your state! I won't list what I would do because this really isn't worth your time at this point.

Eventually he'll get his comeuppance and he'll have to answer for it. That's not your problem either. You really don't want to get further involved because that can only make things even more complicated for you and while you're in school, you don't want to complicate things. Keep your eyes on your own prize and work toward that goal.

Thanks, I was really just looking for your answer. I'm not going so far to spend time reading any state EMS regulations, my nursing textbooks are boring enough:) I was honestly thinking that if I could easily find out whether it was illegal, I'd give him a heads up and a chance to stop before he DID get in trouble. Even though I'm a "busybody" according to some, I'm not a jerk!

Thank you for your advice and for answering my question!

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I don't get how your classmate being a pathological liar has anything to do with you? Unless, he's including you in his lies, you should probably let it go and concentrate on your own success. Nursing school is hard, I'm pretty sure you've got better things to do than to "look him up on the state registry and the employers website". His lies will catch up to him. Please move on.

He has lied about me (not a big lie) to my best nursing school friend (she did not believe him) and I was easily able to disprove him. It just bothers me because he lies to my classmates, most of whom I consider friends. And yes, nursing school is hard but I have to do something on my study breaks :)

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@Heathermaizey

You wouldn't feel so sorry for him if his lies were constantly interrupting your lectures! I'm trying to learn and he's trying to toot his own horn in the middle of my education.

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