A mother who insisted her child was suffering from a variety of medical conditions now faces allegations of mistreating her son. According to the story, an 8-year-old child is now in the custody of his father following findings that his mother had lied about the child having several illnesses.
The child's father was awarded temporary managing conservatorship of the little boy after years of fighting the child's mother for custody. He'd been trying to convince the authorities that the boy's mother was making false claims about the child's health. She even went as far as to lie about the child having a terminal illness.
One judge involved in the years-long case blocked the man from seeing the boy in 2014. The judge thought the father was being unfair by dragging the mother back into court while their son was dying. The father had, at that time, evidence that the child wasn't sick at all. Evidence from Children's Hospital in Dallas and another local hospital showed that there was no evidence that the child was ill in any way.
Sadly, the child has been put through 13 major surgeries and has been seen over 300 times by pediatric centers and hospitals between 2009 and 2016. The boy's father always knew something was wrong, because the child's aunt had met the mother at the hospital and was told the child had cancer. The documents from the medical providers said he didn't.
Child Protective Services was alerted to these issues twice, and it has finally resulted in the situation coming to a head. The mother is now accused of medical child abuse, which is also known as Munchausen by proxy syndrome.
This is an extreme case, but if you find yourself worried that your spouse is mistreating your child, you can take steps to stop it. Your attorney can help you file a request with the court to obtain custody of your child.
Source: Star-Telegram, "With accused ‘Munchausen mom’ facing charges, dad finally gains custody of son," Deanna Boyd, Dec. 20, 2017