Mother Fakes 10-Year-Old’s Illness, Gets Daughter Unnecessary and Life-Threatening Treatments

Stock image of a surgery. (Skeeze/Pixabay)

A mother in Oklahoma City was charged with physical abuse of a child after she faked to medical practitioners that her 10-year-old daughter was ill, leading to unnecessary and potentially deadly treatments.

The mother, Alisha Newman, 34, was charged in Milwaukee County Circuit Court on May 28 for causing bodily harm and child neglect, reported the Journal Sentinel.

The case came to authorities attention after Newman took her severely ill daughter to the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin to see a pediatric gastroenterologist on May 7, according to CBS58.

Doctors found the child to be under shock and suffering from acute renal failure, organ damage, and acidosis. According to the criminal complaint, the child was in hospital in Oklahoma for another severe infection five weeks ago.

While the child was in hospital in Milwaukee, Newman told doctors that her daughter suffered from various ailments. She also told them that the child had a pacemaker, an IV port, and a feeding tube.

The doctors were alarmed by what the mother shared because the child was treated earlier in the same hospital in 2016 and some illness that Newman described were found to be misleading.

“There is a high degree of concern on the part of multiple medical providers that the (initials redacted) girl is the victim of factitious disorder by proxy on the part of the defendant (Newman),” Alyssa Stephany, medical director of Pediatric Hospital Medicine for Children, told Journal Sentinel. Stephany had reviewed the child’s medical records.

The concerned doctors analyzed the child’s previous health records and saw that Newman had taken the child to various health care providers in Oklahoma, Texas, Ohio, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Tennessee, leading to various unnecessary treatments.

According to the court documents, the child doesn’t suffer from any fatal illness and didn’t need a pacemaker. The documents also said that the child does not need a port, which has exposed her to various infections, reported CBS58.

The mother faces 27 years in prison and $75,000 in fines.

Man and Woman Confine 11-Year-Old for Months in Plastic-Wrapped Room

Authorities said earlier this month that they have arrested and filed multiple charges against a man and a woman in Iowa for confining an 11-year-old inside a plastic-wrapped room.

According to the Marion County sheriff’s department, Rocky Lee Wooldridge and Jennifer Lee Wooldridge of Knoxville were charged with first-degree kidnapping, reported KCCI 8.

Rocky, 49, and Jennifer, 43, were identified as the child’s paternal grandparents. Rocky was first charged on March 8 after the Iowa Department of Human Services observed evidence of child abuse when the 11-year-old was treated at a hospital for thermal burns.

The boy told police that he “hadn’t been outside since summer,” and evidence of abuse on his body included “thermal injury to both feet and deep bruising on the arm,” according to the news outlet. He also had difficulty walking and his body was shaking.

Upon reaching the scene, law enforcement found pull-ups and wet underwear inside the child’s room, and it was covered with plastic sheets everywhere. There was one blanket and one pillow inside.

One of the neighbors, Steve Dejoode told KCCI 8 that a girl from the house often spent time with his daughter.

“The dogs are there, but we’ve noticed here and there they’ll pull in and leave,” Dejoode said. “Ever since that went down, I don’t think they’ve been staying there.”

The couple adopted the boy and his sister in 2017 after their mother died in childbirth in 2012, according to the Des Moines Register.

They were granted full custody of the two children after winning a legal battle with their maternal grandparents.

During the investigation, authorities found multiple firearms in reach of children inside. Rocky is also facing charges for possessing multiple unsecured guns included loaded weapons, according to Daily Mail. He’s already a convicted felon.