As pick-up lines go, "I'm a doctor" has little competition. That appears to be Eric Perteet's primary motive for pretending to be a physician, and for a while the ruse worked.

It helped him attract a wife, whom he married in March following a whirlwind courtship. After their honeymoon, Perteet began his new job at Piedmont Hospital, or so he told his spouse, who drove him to work each day from their Conyers home.

She might as well have dropped him off at a singles bar, authorities say.

"It's very clear he was here to hit on women," Piedmont spokeswoman Diana Lewis said.

Perteet, 27, was arrested May 18 after Piedmont Hospital security caught him in the emergency room dressed from head to toe in surgical garb, according to an Atlanta police report. He had been a fixture in the hospital for at least six weeks, hanging out in various waiting rooms, doctor's lounges and in the doctor's library.

A hospital security guard, John Pringle, told police that Perteet gained access to some restricted areas, such as the intensive care unit and "other sensitive care unit areas," the report said.

Piedmont officials agree the impostor could have entered the ICU or emergency room but not areas that have more controlled access, such as the neonatal care unit.

"We're a hospital," Lewis said.

"We have to let people come and go. We have people visiting family in the ICU."

No one spotted Perteet with patients, she said. "And we haven't had a single patient come to us saying they knew this guy."

Perteet wasn't anonymous, however, particularly with some of the hospital's female staffers, some of whom have described him as "absolutely adorable," Lewis said.

Others were less charmed.

"I know in talking to the nurses in the emergency room they found it irritating that a supposed doctor was reading magazines while they were busy," Lewis said.

One of those nurses, acting on her suspicions about Perteet, was the first to report him to hospital security.

"She called in and said something wasn't quite right," said Reginald Ackie, who has directed Piedmont's ongoing internal investigation.

"Things weren't adding up to her."

He was detained within 30 minutes, and though his wife said he still claims he's a doctor, he immediately came clean with security officers.

"He knew he was had," Ackie said. "I think he was tired of living that lie."

Perteet looked the part, dressed in full surgical gear —- scrubs, a mask, head cover and bootees on his shoes, all stolen from the hospital.

He also was wearing an official badge that was stolen from another doctor, but he had taped a picture of himself over the doctor's photo, the report said.

He had other stolen hospital property that would help him look the part of a doctor: a cellphone, a doctor's on-call pager, an electronic door swipe card and vial of drugs, the report said.

The hospital's investigation continues, though there are no plans to talk with patients.

"We feel confident they would let us know if they had met [Perteet]," she said.

Piedmont plans no changes to its security procedures.

—- Staff writer Tim Eberly contributed to this report.