The mother of all cons...

[Bemorebeth]

Apologies if there is another thread on this. Couldn't see one.

Thoughts?

Not been charged with anything as far as I know. You really should listen to the podcast - it’s even more gobsmacking than the documentary - especially what Jean <possibly> did to another daughter who ended up with kidney failure!

@IAmKerplunkdoes the podcast mention Megs dad at all ?

I’m on ep 7 and no mention of him so far which is so weird!

It really is , maybe it’s for legal reasons.

Could she have been in need of her morphine I wonder?

Nick is fantastic! “Fairy God Fuckers!” I love him.

Glad to see a more balanced documentary after the Netflix debacle with Take Care of Maya, that was clearly a case of medical child abuse by the mother but they spun it as “medical kidnapping” and did such a great deal of harm.

Poor Gypsy Rose Blanchard still has endless people who don’t believe her story, even with all the evidence, they think that she was an adult and must have known and been complicit. Hopefully Meg’s story proves that it’s not always the case, when your mother is the abuser, you literally don’t know any different.

Exactly this. How did the pilot come to the conclusion he was part of the medical team unless that had been said and he went along with it? Whilst I think he may really have believed she had a brain tumour ( the ridiculous comment that they may have missed it during the PM) I do think he realised things happened that didn’t quite fit but because he thought Meg was really ill that the ends justified the means. He just seemed desperate to hold on to the version Jean and Meg had given him because he was starting to look a bit of a fool. Even stating that if Johanna hadn’t highlighted the concerns about the situation Meg would still be alive.

Absolutely shocking.

In fact going back to Will and his dubious memory when he was asked if Meg had gone to hospital after the flight from hell ‘he didn’t really remember’!!?? That is just not something you can forget so clearly she didn’t go and knew how dubious that looked and how he would look for not having questioned it.

That would make sense.

Exactly, I thought from his reaction when the question was asked that he knew the answer was no but he was trying to work out what best to say.

What I didn’t really understand was whether Meg was actually experiencing the pain that she told people she had? Or was she just addicted to the morphine and told people she needed it for pain to explain why she needed it?

I think that pain might be a symptom of morphine withdrawal, so I guess if she was addicted she might feel pain if the next dose didn't come quickly enough?

That’s pretty much exactly what I thought. Maya was definitely a victim of medicalised child abuse. Some very weird shit is allowed to happen in America

I listened to the believe in magic podcast only a couple of weeks back and it made me think of the mother in the sixth sense who killed her little girl. Such a strange and awful condition. I really felt for the daughters of Jean who are still alive....one has serious kidney issues. Very sad story

Wasn't Maya's condition prooved to be true?
The family sued the hospital and cps and won i thought...for millions

I was interested in the diagnosis that Meg's sister discovered in her medical notes of IIH for which she had a shunt inserted in her brain so I did a bit of research which may explain everything that happened to Meg ...

IIH is Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension - a neurological disorder where pressure builds up around the brain due to excess fluid due to unknown cause.

Symptoms include - severe headaches, feeling sick, feeling sleepy, weakness
Causes include - brain injury, brain tumour, meningitis, taking medicines such as antibiotics, thyroid medication, lithium and high levels of vitamin A

I was interested in the vitamin A connection, so I looked at the symptoms of vitamin A toxicity and discovered that it could have caused other symptoms that Meg suffered from, including hair loss, dry hair, fatigue, headache, bone and joint pain, pseudotumor cerebri syndrome (increased pressure in the skull that mimics brain tumours) and fatty liver.

So, Meg's childhood diagnosis of IIH, concerns about a brain tumour, headaches , bone pain and ultimately fatty liver could all have been caused by Vitamin A toxicity.

I really think that poor girl was deliberately poisoned throughout her life (possibly using Vitamin A) by her mother (and then blamed by her for the mismanagement of the charity).

Hopefully the documentary will lead to a thorough police investigation as she certainly has questions to answer.

I sincerely hope that there is a way for her death to be investigated fully because I am not buying a woman naturally dying at 23 on the back of years of abuse and factitious disorder imposed on another, at the very moment everything starts to unravel... really?

@farley123 that's a good call on the Vit A. You are right that it does lead to fatty liver and it would be a very easy thing for Megan to have unwittingly overdosed on. Easily available and seemingly benign - Jean could easily have been giving her significant amounts.

Aside from the whole story being so jaw dropping, I was utterly shocked by the airline agreeing to fly them - and the whole debacle that followed, and the lack of joined up care from the various medical teams. HOW was it all able to continue for so long??

Can't quite decide what I think about Will. Was he in love with Meg? Did he have an inkling that something wasn't right and now feels full of shame? Is he afraid of Jean? Does she have something on him? He was SO cagey.

And lastly, fully agree about Nick. Could not have liked and admired him more. His emotional intelligence, his self-reflection, his manner, his certainty and the feeling that underneath all that pain and loss is a bloody hilarious sense of humour. He was fantastic.

I thought Will knew exactly what was going on and was along for the ride , I’ve no idea why he agreed to be on the documentary as he came across as quite stupid .

He reminded me irresistibly of his namesake Will the posh but very dim intern in W1A!

Well that was the position taken by the documentary and US courts. For myself I disagree.

Complex regional pain syndrome is a controversial diagnosis. I believe it exists but it has no biological test to prove its existence or otherwise so would be very easy to fake. I have never heard of a child having it. The high dose ketamine was such a controversial treatment that even US Drs thought it was crazy and the quack Dr had to do it in Mexico. She was at risk of bladder damage and I would believe Johns Hopkins over one crazy Dr myself.

DH and I just watched this series over a couple of nights.

It is beyond unbelievable.

How the police have not got involved with the level of fraud, embezzlement, abuse and opiate seeking is incredible.

I wasn't sure about the Maya one either. I'm not surprised damages were awarded given the hospital were billing insurance for CRPS treatment hence making it seem like that was the correct diagnosis.

But I'm confused how the daughter only got better properly after the mum died. She was taken off the ketamine etc. When she was interviewed she said she was avoiding hospitals and doctors. But she appeared to be entirely recovered without all the treatment it was claimed she needed. She was moving about freely, walking, ice skating etc. Whereas before she was in a wheelchair and at points barely able to move.

I do think the 'grey area' aspect is problematic. Both children clearly did have medical issues but FII usually comes from initial genuine medical issues. In both cases there seemed to be exaggeration of symptoms and dubious treatments being provided, over medication etc. Hard to know what is genuine FII and what is health anxiety / poor decision making.

For Meg it was clear the mum was getting a lot of attention and money. The Maya documentary didn't give an insight into if there was any element of this too.

Once again there was some hiding behind royalty/ prime minister etc

There’s a dangerous use of “seal of approval from famous people” that gets used by offenders and grifters. Those who get used don’t spot it and others get starry eyed.

I noticed she was also on thyroxine, 75 mg in one image