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Original poster

Mother who pretended girl had cancer

66 replies

Baba · 15/07/2003 14:39

Anyone going to watch this tonight?

I don't know much about it but read the write-up and it sounds almost unbelievable.

Is it a true story??
How could she get away with it?

OP posts:
codswallop · 15/07/2003 14:40

I read about it in the Sundat Times years sgo, shall I tell you the ending?

Sonnet · 15/07/2003 14:41

when is it on - what time and what side....

codswallop · 15/07/2003 14:44

c4 i think

Boe · 15/07/2003 14:45

Codswallop - also read about it in the Sunday Times and have told DP that we are going to watch it and if he wants to watch any kind of competitive nonsense (from football to frisbee throwing he can p*ss off down the pub!!)

Is true and is hideous - I am not even sure why she did it - could be one of those Munchaussen things I suppose!!

donnie · 15/07/2003 15:12

I don't think I will watch it as it sounds too awful - apparetnly the woman does indeed have munchausen's by proxy, like the baby killer nurse Beverly Allit.How sick are some people ????? it is definitely a true story as the mum, dad and grandmother are all standing trial in the US.

donnie · 15/07/2003 15:13

oh, and Boe she they did it purely for the money - donations from kind people who believed them when they said they couldn't afford the medical bills.

Boe · 15/07/2003 15:22

Wow - thought it was just cause she was a bit potty - did not think for a minute that she thought it was because she wanted money!!!

Original poster
Baba · 15/07/2003 15:25

so the woman had munchausen by proxy and pretended her daughter was dying of cancer.

What happened then? Did she raise loads of money and then pocket it herself? Did she tell her daughter she was dying of cancer?

Please tell me what happens (that is if people don't mind!!)

I will watch it anyway. Is the mother in jail or psychiatric establishment?!

OP posts:
Jimjams · 15/07/2003 16:03

doesn't sound like MSBP - sounds like it was just a con.

pie · 15/07/2003 16:17

There is an article here in the Guardian...

www.guardian.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4611800,00.html

Bobsmum · 15/07/2003 17:22

I remember this from a couple of years ago - a horrible, horrible true story. Not munchausens either - just a mercenary, evil mother.

monkey · 15/07/2003 17:49

I remember the story - was purely a financial thing. I believe she did tell the girl she had cancer. It was a teacher that spotted it, I think, because she noticed the hair on her head was stubble and not fine regrowth, realised it must have been shaved & alerted the authorities. How unbelievably evil, to do that to your own daughter.

tiktok · 15/07/2003 23:58

She gave her adult sleeping pills that drugged her, then drove her round in the car and told her when she came round that she had been to the hospital for chemotherapy.

Interesting that she had already had two convictions for fraud, including one which led to a term in prison.

I think - on the evdence in the programme - she is guilty of cruelty and greed. I am not sure about the husband and the grandmama - both guilty of being very stupid?

Boe · 16/07/2003 09:17

This just made me feel sick and although I am all for keeping kids with their parents as far as possible I am just glad that she is away from her daughter and as for the bit where her husband said that he felt she was coming to more emotional harm being away from her family - I wanted to get up and leave the room (DP did get up shouted a few choice words at the TV and stormed into the garden to water the garden, he was so cross we now have a swamp) how can he believe that when they told the poor little mite that she was going to die - I am against giving my daughter calpol if she does not really need it let alone benadryl - especially an adult dose - what about her liver and kidneys having to process this!!

I am so cross about this and feel that she should be banged up for a very long time - I think the fact that she went on taking the money is a huge pointer to the fact that it was not MBP - did seem like the whole town were out of some bizarre film though - people just seemed a bit removed from reality.

fio2 · 16/07/2003 09:21

It was horrible wasnt it, but how on earth did she get away with it for so long?

Original poster
Baba · 16/07/2003 11:04

I am sure many people watched the programme last night - it really sickened me - I don't know where the little girl is now (think I must have missed that bit).

The fact that her Mother poured that sleeping pill into her system for so long and at an adult doseage is so sick - I am sure it will have done some long term damage.

Not sure whether I believe the father didn't know anything about it - I find it hard to believe that he would not have gone with his wife to the hospital - my dp and I would have gone TOGETHER; as a family if my ds was dying - I just don't get it at all - as for the Grandma - I think she didn't know....

what do you think???
I hope she goes to prison for a long, long time and don't believe she has munchausen - I think she just saw a chance for another scam and used her daughter - she is not fit to be a mother.

OP posts:
Boe · 16/07/2003 11:50

Well my DP is not even DD's father and he said he would have come to hospital with us and would have expected to have seen marks on her from chemo and the port thing she supposedly had when she was in the bath. This guy sureky could not have been that niave. This whole town seemed a bit odd to me though - do they really have that many churches in towns in the states????

CAM · 16/07/2003 11:52

Yes the whole thing was like one of those B movies from the 50's or 60's - definitely seemed as though some of the "townsfolk" were not quite the ticket. I think the mother had MSBP and wanted to make money. Both are from a fraudulent mindset plus MSBP perps really want lots of attention - she's certainly succeeded there. Horrible to watch and very hard to understand how someone could deliberately harm their own child. The child must never be returned to these people.

CAM · 16/07/2003 11:53

Also, re the father, did he never ask the child how she had got on at hospital - or did the mother have her lying as well?

Boe · 16/07/2003 11:59

Mother knocked the child out and she never had any recollection of going to hospital other than what mother told her.

Think that town is really Stepford gone wrong!!!

Original poster
Baba · 16/07/2003 12:15

It reminded me of that bit in Blair Witch when they are interviewing the people in the town and they all looked like they are on drugs themselves!!

Does anyone know where the little girl is now?

OP posts:
lou33 · 16/07/2003 12:16

They just said in another town with a foster family.

Boe · 16/07/2003 12:50

Are there any Americans out there - do these type of places really exist??? Sort of an American League of Gentleman type thing I thought!!!

They all spoke like the characters in South Park too!!

Bobsmum · 16/07/2003 13:05

One thing I found interesting was the difference in the legal system. In the US, you're clearly guilty until proven innocent. The press were able to report full details of the case way before the first hearing, before she'd even been charged.
Much as the evidence really does seem stacked against this woman, after all the information is in the public domain now, will she get a fair unbiased trial?
The case doesn't even go to court until September, so she's not even been found guilty yet.
I

Boe · 16/07/2003 13:08

I do agree with this - and apparently the jury is to be made up of 12 local folk!!!

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