Mother who pretended girl had cancer

[Baba]

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?

Judging by last night's interviews, the inhabitants of "Urbana" (original name) made up their minds, the second that Hannah was put into care. Bring out the pitchforks and burn down the houses - hmmm real justice?

A few people did not immediately condemn her, and they have admitted to a lot of it - I think that maybe the father is to blame quite a lot in all of this - it was his responsibility to also care for his daughter and to protect her and to just say that he left it to his wife is a huge cop out in my opinion.

That poor little girl in the wheelchair was just so lovely - she gave hup her pop tabs for Hannah and they just left them in the garage - for that alone I think they should have to pay big time.

I just cannot see how the Grandmother and Father did not know - it is sooo beyond belief.

And where did all of the money go - surely the father would have seen that they had more money even if he did not deal with the household finances - it had to be spent somewhere - who does he thnk payed for his trip to NYC?

I totally agree with Boe - how did the father think that they got the money to go on trips like New York etc etc.

I just find it so hard to believe that he wouldn't go to the hospital with his daughter and be there for her whilst she was undergoing the most horrible time of her life; hold her hand whilst she was going through chemo etc etc.

Still not sure about the Grandmother though.... although, again, if it was my grandchild, I would be going to the hospital and holding her hand.

What I don't understand is, how did the Mother get away with inventing this nurse called Gwen who came to the house? How come the father never questioned never meeting this Gwen. I am damn sure my dp would be suspicious if I kept talking about "Gwen" and he never met/saw her.

I totally agree with Boe - how did the father think that they got the money to go on trips like New York etc etc.

I just find it so hard to believe that he wouldn't go to the hospital with his daughter and be there for her whilst she was undergoing the most horrible time of her life; hold her hand whilst she was going through chemo etc etc.

Still not sure about the Grandmother though.... although, again, if it was my grandchild, I would be going to the hospital and holding her hand.

What I don't understand is, how did the Mother get away with inventing this nurse called Gwen who came to the house? How come the father never questioned never meeting this Gwen. I am damn sure my dp would be suspicious if I kept talking about "Gwen" and he never met/saw her.

oops, posted twice.

sorry - damn computer got stuck!!

Nice to see that at last someone has agreed with me somewhere - and twice too

Thought the nurse was called Ruth though???

DP said he would have like to meet a blonde in a nurses uniform above all else and for that reason he would have hung around - he can even think of stuff like that when storming about!!! MEN!!!

My dp has suggested that Ruth/Gwen comes round our house and gives him a nice back massage.

He also said that if I told him a nurse was coming around our house, he would be home early from work just to see what she looked like.

So I guess we have come to the conclusion that her husband knows all about it???

You would think that her local doctor would hear about it wouldn't you and wonder what the hell was going on - unless they were in on it too?????

We watched this and were in tears for most of the first half.

Very close friends of ours lost their 6 year old son to leukaemia last year and I find it impossible to comphrehend that a mother would tell their child that they had cancer and prepare them for death.

I know that it was fairly certain that the woman had Munchausens but how the fathers solicitor could say that the child had been caused no real, lasting harm is beyond me. Surely being told by your mother, family and friends that you are desperately ill and having counselling to prepare you for your own death at 7 years old is going to cause lasting psychological harm ?

We watched this and were in tears for most of the first half.

Very close friends of ours lost their 6 year old son to leukaemia last year and I find it impossible to comphrehend that a mother would tell their child that they had cancer and prepare them for death.

I know that it was fairly certain that the woman had Munchausens but how the fathers solicitor could say that the child had been caused no real, lasting harm is beyond me. Surely being told by your mother, family and friends that you are desperately ill and having counselling to prepare you for your own death at 7 years old is going to cause lasting psychological harm ?

Sorry about that double post, is anyone else sufferning with a slow connection ?

wickedstepmother - you are absolutely right about the solicitor saying there was no lasting damage to the child - I couldn't believe what I was hearing. When you see that little girl in the wheelchair who has been ill for all that time and then see what this woman has done to her own child who is not even ill - it is beyond comprehension and that child will definetly have issues as she gets older - basically, that woman has ruined her daughters life.

I don't know how you come to the conclusion that she was almost definetly suffering from Munchausen.

I believe that it was just a scam, like her other two, except this time she involved her own daughter - I believe she is sick in the head but don't think she has MBP? Why do you believe that?

Dh has been to 46 of the 48 states on mainland USA and he says catagorically there are places like that with a church on every road. Everyone knows each others business. DH, now living in London, still refers to his home town as a city. There were 30,000 people there!! Church is big business, as is living in your neighbours pocket. He watched 'Deliverance' with me and said yep, thats West Virginia. USA is South Park Boe!

I read that the dad would take the time off work to go the hospital and then the mother would say the appointment had been changed etc.

It makes me wonder though for all the craziness in that family how did the little girl remain so honest that the mother knew she would have to drug her to not have her story blown from the word go.

In the programme they said that the woman had taken herself to a completely independent and unbiased institution for a pscyhiatric assessment, which showed that her 'symptoms' were consistent with Munchausens byproxy. At the end of the prog it said that the judge was waiting on the results of a second psychiatric review before making her decision.

hmmmm, I wonder, if she has Munchausens, if it has ever manifested itself before that - you would think that someone who has this would have tried to harm her child before to get attention, rather than waiting for seven years before starting it??

I went to school with someone who had it and Social Services had taken her three children off her - she blatantly told me that she had harmed her children and had this condition - I don't know what she expected me to say/do - maybe wanted a reaction from me....

Not sure what to believe. All I can be sure of is that I love my ds!!!

I found this very interesting muchausens link

The prog had me wanting to go and get my 11 month old DD out of bed for a cuddle.

I know what you mean. I went to check on my ds last night after the programme but decided against giving him a cuddle as he looked so peaceful. I was watching him and he started talking in his sleep so I left the room!!

I was the same when I started to read that book about the boy who was abused by his mother - I can't remember what it was called though but it was the most horrible book I have ever read in my life and really, deeply upset me. I had to leave work and go home and pick my ds up and hold on tight to him!

Baba, do you mean 'A Boy Called It'?

I ended up watching most of it even though I didn't want to - morbid fascination I suppose. I refuse to believe the bollocks about the dad not knowing anything about it - sorry but unless he had had his brain surgically removed ( not that he had much up there anyway) there is NO WAY he can claim ignorance of the whole business. That poor little girl though, how can she get over this ? and it's clear that the mother only pleaded insanity to cut a deal - she knows it's the only way of getting a reduced sentence. Personally I hope she is locked up in an asylum for a long time.

Yes, that's it.... a boy called it....

horrific stuff - I just couldn't handle it at all and I know there are another two books to go with it but I can't read any more. It was just too much for me.

I finished the book in 3 days and ironically enough, I bought the book from the hospice on the day that my Dad died and found it hard to read it because of that association. (on May 9th this year).... however, I persevered with it and really wish I had never read it.

There are such evil people out there in the world without having one as your parent.

All conjecture of course, but I don't reckon she had MBP - in these incidences 9and with M itself), surely the main trait is obtaining medical treatment. She made no attempt to obtain anything other than money.

Pretty unbelieveable that the trial comes after an international TV programme.

But baba, why not wait 7 years before starting? There are some criminals with juvenile records, but surely plenty who commit a crime later in life. Or if she really is sick rather than plain callous and greedy, the illness could also have been a recent development. That nurse Beverly Allitt or something - she had MBP - can anyone remember how long she's worked as a nurse before attcking?

It's just beyond belief that thse people are out there doing ths stuff.

I don't know much about people with MBP but now I have thought about it, I suppose you are right - that there isn't a reason why she would do it before now - maybe it just happened - that's if she had it in the first place.

I suppose it is like someone who has a compulsion to kill and kills for the first time - I just worry that if that is the fact, then once she is out of prison, she will try and do something once again - perhaps to her own daughter???

Sick - very sick and surely never to be a fair trial after this programme?

Ah but in the US they have that great thing called freedom of speech ...even if it does mean that the media is trial and jury

MBP is a type of attention seeking, its not the proceedure but the attention/sympathy etc these wicked people get that they thrive on. That poor kid, what type of relationship will she ever have with her mum?

my brother is a GP and reckons MBP is alarmingly common