This case tugged on my heart strings because when my granddaughter was a little one (about 4) a military doctor prescribed her Sudafed. Shortly after receiving the prescribed dose, an ambulance had to rush her to a civilian hospital. It was a frightening experience for all of us.
I’m shocked that a mother would medicate her child to purposely make her sick. This is a perplexing case about Factitious Disorder Imposed on Another (FDIA) previously referred to as Munchausen by Proxy (MBP).
Neither law enforcement or mental health professionals understand why a person—largely females—would overmedicate a young child, a special needs child or an elderly person who is in their care.
The woman in this true crime has three children. On her 4-year-old’s previous visit to the hospital, staff feared someone had given the child something to cause seizures. They sent blood and urine samples for testing, but received the results after the child was discharged.
The next time the mother arrived at the emergency room with her daughter, the staff was on high-alert. They put a rush on her blood and urine samples. When they received the results, their fears were correct, the child had a high level of Benadryl in her system.
Her doctor(s) kept her in the hospital for 5 days and called the authorities. The child’s mother denied accusations that she had over-medicated her daughter. Upon reviewing security footage, the investigators saw that when she accompanied her daughter to the restroom, she carried her purse. Within an hour of using the restroom, the child began having tremors, her pupils were dilated, she had an elevated heart rate, and she was unable to stand on her own. Blood and urine tests again showed high levels of Benadryl.
Officers looked in the mother’s purse. In addition to finding Benadryl, they found other prescribed medications that should not be given to a child but trace amounts were found in her daughter's lab results. They arrested the mother and charged her with one count each of abandoning or endangering a child and injury to a child with the intent to cause serious bodily injury.
Through the investigation, the authorities found the mother had taken another child to the hospital several times for similar symptoms. She had posted on social media that one of her children had cancer and that her son was autistic—all false.
While out on bail, awaiting trial, the judge instructed her to stay away from children. She befriended a man with a 12-year-old daughter. She told the daughter she was a nurse (she wasn’t) and medicated her with something that made her dizzy.
To avoid a trial, she pleaded guilty to injury to a child with serious bodily injury/mental injury and abandoning/endangering a child with reckless criminal negligence.
At her sentencing, her ex-husband said,
“Instead of exploring new places, making friends, and engaging in adventures, their lives were dominated by the restraints of fake sickness.”
He went on to say,
“The scars of your betrayal run deep.”
The District Court Judge sentenced the 32-year-old mother to 60 years in prison.
The judge justified the sentence because he believed the mother was a determined recidivist and a danger to the public.
Signs of FDIA in a caregiver may include:
· They never leave the person they care for alone or out of sight.
· Their person has a history of many hospitalizations, tests and procedures.
· Their person’s medical records are inconsistent.
· Their person's symptoms don’t fit a single condition or lead to a conclusive diagnosis.
· Their person's symptoms only happen at home or don’t appear in the presence of a healthcare provider.
· Their person's symptoms improve in the hospital but worsen at home.
· Blood or urine in lab samples don’t match the blood type or urine of the person within their care, or there may be signs of contamination.
Common characteristics found among people diagnosed with FDIA include:
· They have a lot of knowledge about medical care and health information.
· They are personable and easy to get along with.
· They are highly involved and devoted to being a caretaker.
People with FDIA are habitual liars. They need mental health treatment before someone in their care is harmed or worse.
Source: Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney, Law & Crime, Oxygen True Crime, CBS News, Cleveland Clinic
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