He went to jail as a fake doctor. Now he's a real one
CHICAGO - Wearing a surgical gown and a mask, 9-year-old Adam Litwin watched in awe as his grandfather, a podiatrist, mended a fractured foot.
"I was just mesmerized," Litwin recalled. "I literally knew from that moment on that there was nothing else I wanted to do with my life."
He began to ask for medical posters and textbooks for his birthday. He had his own stethoscope. In his teens he wore a beeper and paged himself, pretending the hospital needed him to consult on a patient.
Decades later, Litwin, now 47, has finally achieved his dream. He graduated from a medical school in the Caribbean last year and passed the final board exam required to be a doctor.
Though Litwin must still complete some training and licensing before he can treat patients on his own, he is an M.D. in the United States.
But to accomplish his goal, he first had to get past the time 20 years ago when he went to jail - for impersonating a doctor at UCLA.
The way Litwin tells it, he ended up at UCLA because he was blinded by his love of medicine.
"Have you ever wanted something so badly in your life, and you knew you were
