Judge Rules Mother Drugged Daughter, Causing Life-Threatening Illness

A judge has determined that a child suffered a life-threatening infection subsequent to her mother repeatedly administering drugs to her. This unprescribed medication was given for over a year, resulting in the girl requiring an extended hospitalization at a children’s facility, where she was unable to consume food or liquids and underwent 10 blood transfusions. The judge also concluded that the mother’s conduct inflicted substantial emotional and psychological damage on the girl, who is currently 15 years old. In a related Family Court hearing, two other women, who faced accusations of similarly harming their children at the same hospital during approximately the same period, were determined not to have committed such acts. All the children were admitted as long-term patients, frequently sharing the same ward, at Sheffield Children’s Hospital throughout 2020 and 2021. Despite originating from distinct, previously unrelated families, each child developed medical conditions without clear explanations, which led to the arrests of their respective mothers. The women, all of whom had resided with their children at the hospital, faced allegations of causing their children’s illnesses through the administration of unprescribed drugs and the intentional contamination of their feeding lines with faecal matter. Following the arrests of their mothers, all the children experienced a swift recovery. Due to reporting restrictions, the identities of any families implicated in this case cannot be disclosed. The three children involved – the girl and two young boys, now aged five and six – exhibited chronic digestive, or gastroenterological, illnesses and an apparent incapacity to eat and drink normally. Each child required intravenous lines for nutrient delivery to sustain their lives. They also experienced an unusually high incidence of bacterial infections in these lines, resulting in life-threatening sepsis. Medical professionals at Sheffield Children’s Hospital were unable to ascertain the cause of the children’s severe illnesses and ultimately theorized they could be victims of fabricated or induced illness (FII). The NHS defines FII as “a rare form of child abuse” where a parent either exaggerates or intentionally induces symptoms of illness in a child. It was suggested that the actions of each mother resulted in numerous avoidable medical procedures, extended hospital stays, and brought each child to the brink of death. The mothers of the two boys were determined not to have committed these acts. The girl’s mother, who is also a parent to two other children, was apprehended in February 2021 subsequent to her daughter’s urine test revealing ibuprofen, an unprescribed anti-inflammatory drug. A police search uncovered 96 ibuprofen tablets, laxatives, a feeding syringe, and a pill crusher. A Family Court hearing held in Leeds in 2023, whose judgment has just been released, concluded that the woman identified as MR administered unprescribed medication to her daughter between September 2019 and February 2021. Her daughter received both ibuprofen and piroxicam, a potent painkiller. Although the girl knew her mother was providing her with the drugs, she was unaware of their specific identities. Judge Mr Justice Poole determined that the ingestion of these drugs caused the teenager to experience abdominal pain and inflammation, nausea and vomiting, stomach ulcers, and gastro-intestinal bleeding. MR additionally administered the laxative Bisacodyl to her daughter, which the judge stated resulted in the girl experiencing recurrent diarrhoea. These drugs necessitated the girl undergoing superfluous medical procedures, such as 10 blood transfusions and surgery to halt bleeding from ulcers. Furthermore, she required the insertion of a gastric tube, lines for nutritional support, and numerous endoscopies, a procedure involving the insertion of a camera into the body to examine a condition. An inquiry into the mother revealed that she herself had needed hospital treatment at various times for symptoms that lacked complete medical explanation, including “pseudo-seizures,” whose genuineness was doubted by both medical professionals and her own relatives. When she was arrested, she held recurring prescriptions for a strong painkiller due to chronic back pain. She also presented with mental health challenges. The judge concluded that the mother-daughter relationship at the hospital grew “very intense and unhealthy,” intensified by Covid restrictions. The judge wrote, “The isolation and mutual dependency…provided a culture within which unusual and harmful behaviours could develop.” He added that even subsequent to her mother’s arrest, the girl persisted in taking ibuprofen “in an attempt to make herself ill, to cover up for her mother.” In April 2021, the girl was released from the hospital and placed under the care of her father and grandparents. She can now eat normally and has not experienced any additional infections. She attends school but still reports abdominal pain and continues to be monitored by a paediatrician. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and South Yorkshire Police have been contacted for statements. The other two mothers were arrested in October 2021. Searches conducted in the rooms they occupied or could access yielded no evidence indicating they had harmed their children. The judge also stated there was no evidence that any of the three women had interfered with their children’s feeding lines. He further noted that national guidelines for clinicians had not been adhered to appropriately. Consequently, when the mothers were referred to social services and the police, the NHS trust had failed to collect all available evidence. He mentioned that at that juncture, the Trust’s “accepted narrative” was that each mother was culpable of FII (fabricated or induced illness). Dr Jeff Perring, executive medical director at Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, commented: “This was a finding of fact hearing in the Family Court and, as the judgment makes clear, it was not an inquiry into the conduct of the Trust and its clinicians. The 2021 Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health guidance referred to in the judgement is fully embedded at the Trust. Our policies and procedures are reviewed to factor in learning and ensure they continue to be robust and reflect best practice.” Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. 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