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Transferred Münchhausen syndrome is a mental disorder in which – most often – the mother poisons her child or persuades him into various diseases in order to be able to fulfill himself in caring for him. This often leads to real havoc in the body and psyche, and even death. It happens that children have to undergo even several dozen procedures, often completely unnecessary.
- The “sickest child in Britain” was found to be relatively healthy, and his mother was imprisoned for fraud
- At the age of 9, Jennifer had 40 surgeries and 1819 non-surgical procedures behind her. Her gallbladder, appendix, and part of her intestines were removed
- The one and a half year old Zosia from Warsaw’s Wawer was poisoned by psychotropics by her mother
- The mothers of these children suffered from a mental disorder known as transferred Münchhausen syndrome. Where does this disorder come from?
- You can find more similar stories on the TvoiLokony home page
«The sickest child in Britain»
More than a decade ago, Britain was shaken by the story of Lisa Hayden-Johnson’s son. Until the age of seven, the boy had 325 medical appointments and underwent nine – as it later turned out, completely unnecessary – surgical operations. During this time, the mother maintained that her son had diabetes, cystic fibrosis, metabolic disorders, food allergies, intolerance to sunlight, a neurological disorder, and cerebral palsy, which caused him to use a wheelchair.
She convinced the doctors that he needed to be fed with a probe, and she added glucose to the boy’s urine to make the suspicion of diabetes more plausible. She cheated medics for years, invented new symptoms, and the boy underwent further treatments in search of diseases.
She described her son as “the sickest child in Britain”. She knew how to make her fight for his health evoke admiration and sympathy. Thanks to benefits and a disability pension, she collected 130 pounds, she was supported by various charities, by donating, among others, a cruise to Tenerife or a new car. She met with the royal family, and with her son, she received the Child of Courage Award from the then Prime Minister Tony Blair. She hosted breakfast TV and sold her story to colorful magazines.
When everything was revealed and the child was relatively healthy, she was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for numerous frauds. – During the first six and a half years of the boy’s life, until the intervention of the police and social services, the accused regularly abused her son on the medical, physiological and psychological levels. The boy endured constant torture, every side of his young and defenseless life suffered, said the prosecutor Andrew McFarlane.
Moved Münchausen syndrome
Lisa Hayden-Johnson suffered from a condition known as Münchhausen syndrome by Proxy (MSBP).
The term “Münchhausen syndrome” was first used in 1951 by the British physician Richard Asher. He called it the mental disorder of adults who deliberately induced or pretended to have symptoms, or underwent unnecessary treatment to attract the attention of healthcare professionals. Asher used the name of the XNUMXth century German Baron Karl Friedrich Hieronymus von Münchhausen, a soldier and traveler known for his stories of imaginary adventures in which he allegedly participated.
- He pretended to be the devil, God and mental illness
On the other hand, the term «transferred Münchhausen syndrome» was introduced in 1977 by the English pediatrician Roy Meadow after observing mental disorders of two mothers. The first caused symptoms in her child. The second led the child to death from severe electrolyte disturbances. She poisoned them with large doses of salt, leading to hypernatremia, i.e. an excess of sodium in the body.
While the transferred Münchhausen syndrome may be associated with hypochondria, they are two different things. In the case of hypochondria, we are dealing with obsessive finding of symptoms of diseases and the desire to heal, and in the case of MSBP, symptoms of diseases are induced artificially and we try to maintain them as long as possible.
A brave mother and a serial killer
In 1999, Kathy Bush from Florida was sentenced to 3 years in prison for poisoning her daughter Jennifer with drugs and contaminating her feeding probes, which resulted in numerous infections. Jennifer had an even richer hospital record than Lisa Hayden-Johnson’s son, but there are real consequences in this case.
From the age of 2 to 9, the girl underwent 40 operations, 1819 non-surgical procedures, and spent over 640 days in hospitals due to gastrointestinal disorders. Her gallbladder, appendix, and part of her intestines were removed.
- Also read: The seven most dangerous poisons for humans
Her mother was watching over Jennifer all the time, she was involved in the treatment process, she was in constant contact with doctors. As in the case of the described British woman, her attitude aroused widespread admiration. She even impressed Hillary Clinton, who included her in the campaign for US health care reform.
While Jennifer’s story may bristle, US history knows more terrifying examples of Münchhausen’s surrogate syndrome, though in this case the condition has been questioned by some.
Marybeth Tinning, 45, was sentenced to 1987 years in 20 for strangling her 4-month-old daughter. Although she was also suspected of contributing to the deaths of the previous eight children. Five sons and three daughters died over the course of 14 years. And although the sections did not reveal anything suspicious, the causes of death included, among others, cardiac arrest, Reye’s syndrome, sudden cot death, cardiac arrest. Ultimately, she confessed to killing three of them by suffocation with a pillow. “I’m not a good mother,” she would say.
Mothers poison their children
It is believed that 95 percent. cases of Münchhausen’s substitute syndrome concern women, and more precisely, the biological mothers of the victims. It is difficult to find the described case with the father in the lead role. «It is assumed that mothers who cause disease in their children are people with severe narcissistic and psychopathic disorders. They do not perceive their own children as separate people, but as elements that perform a function in their inner world “- believes Prof. Katarzyna Schier from the Faculty of Psychology at the University of Warsaw.
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Women suffering from MSBP are able to perfectly manipulate the environment, not only the family, but also the medical staff. It is estimated that about 80 percent. of them have worked as nurses or medical registrars, and people who have nothing to do with these professions have excellent knowledge of medicine.
The victims are mainly newborns, infants and young children. According to research from 2003, 6 percent. cases of Münchhausen’s surrogate mother’s syndrome end in the child’s death, another 7%. – long-term damage to health.
When Zosia’s painful examinations were done, her mother was excited
It is estimated that in Poland three out of 100 thousand people fall victim to Münchhausen’s substitute team. children, but specialists dealing with the issue believe that there are many more cases. “Dziennik” wrote about one of them in 2009.
Zosia, one and a half years old, was admitted to the Children’s Health Center in a state of severe malnutrition. Despite having a gastrostomy, she was not gaining weight, and tests performed by doctors did not reveal any disease. «When Zosia’s painful and unpleasant examinations were made, her mother was strangely excited. It was terrifying. And when we did not do any tests, the girl’s condition suddenly deteriorated » – said a nurse from CZD.
- Even Hitler was afraid of this poison. Kills in minutes
The mysterious condition of the girl made the head of the pediatric clinic suspect that her mother, who works as a nurse in social care, might be behind everything. He told her on Friday that the baby would be discharged from the hospital after the weekend. The doctor suspected that the mother might do something over the weekend, and it did. Zosia felt worse again, the research revealed that her mother had given her psychotropic sedatives.
Some time later it was discovered that the woman’s first child died under mysterious circumstances, it was believed that the cause was cot death. “Everyone considered her an example of a caring mother, she was so good at dealing with the misfortunes that befalling her” – said the policeman dealing with the case.
Even Eminem has experienced MSBP
One of the bleakest stories with MSBP in the background is told in the 2019 series “The Act”. Dee Dee Blanchard was murdered by her daughter Gypsy Rose and her boyfriend. There could even be the death penalty for second-degree murder in Missouri, but when the prosecutor looked at the girl’s medical records, he found the case “unusual” in which Gypsy was more a victim than the perpetrator. Ultimately, it ended with 10 years in prison.
Gypsy Rose was completely dominated by her mother. Dee Dee claimed her daughter was sick and disabled, stuffed her with drugs and subjected her to unnecessary surgery. According to her mother, the girl suffered from leukemia, asthma, muscular dystrophy and many other diseases, and was mentally retarded due to brain damage. She was wheelchair-bound, carried an oxygen cylinder with her, and was fed through a probe. She had her head shaved regularly to make her look more like people undergoing chemotherapy.
- Poison for inheritance – was the British doctor a serial killer?
The toxic mother poisoning her daughter can also be seen in the miniseries “Sharp Objects”, based on the book by Gillian Flynn. Also, one of the girls who is helped by the boy from the movie “Sixth Sense” is a victim of a mother possessed by Münchhausen’s surrogate team.
Eminem also mentions the disease in the song “Cleanin ‘Out My Closet”, complaining that his mother told him about various diseases as a child.
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