Posted on 07/17/2005 4:52:29 PM PDT by ColumbusRep
BEAR, Del. -- A former pediatric nurse has been charged with trying to poison her toddler son by injecting human feces into his bloodstream.
Stephanie McMullen, 29, was charged Thursday with assault and reckless endangerment counts and released on bail.
Doctors at the hospital where McMullen worked alerted police that her 22-month-old son had been hospitalized six times since he was four months old for "serious, potentially life-threatening illnesses," acting police chief Lt. Col. Scott McLaren said.
During one examination, doctors found E. coli, a bacteria found in feces, in the boy's bloodstream, and said the only way it could have entered the bloodstream was "through injection, not consumption."
"This could have eventually led to the death of the child," McLaren said.
A search of McMullen's hospital locker turned up needles, a syringe holder and an intravenous line tap, and an examination of her home computer indicated she had been researching child poisoning, according to court records.
McLaren said the woman could have Munchausen syndrome by proxy, in which caregivers cause illnesses in children or exaggerate their symptoms in an effort to draw attention to themselves.
McMullen's attorney, Elwood Eveland Jr., said the child has an eating disorder, and that he has consulted with a medical expert who believes that what the child is suffering is part of a medical condition.
He said police have "absolutely no evidence of an objective nature" against her.
The boy was placed in foster care, and McMullen is scheduled to appear in Family Court next week to try to regain custody.
Sounds like Munchausen's Syndrome to me....very sick, that mother.
Sounds like Munchausen's syndrome by proxy.
How incredibly gross.
I say, take out into the public square and give her a 100 lashes.
It will give her the attention she so desperately desires.
Actually, that's a pretty darn good idea.
I bet you a nickel that if we did this, others suffering from this 'disease' would miraculously find the willpower to control these urges. Imagine, consequences for your actions .....
I don`t get it...How did she get the doody in the needle much less have it come out the needle? Did it come out like tooth paste?
Contaminate some normal saline solution and inject. It doesnt take much bacteria.
Yep. I helped run a surveillance on a mother doing similar things with her infant daughter. The Doctor making the right call on the mysterious illnesses probably saved the poor baby's life.
I can empathize. I'm a long-time sufferer of Guggenheim's Syndrome ... the uncontrollable desire to break every bone in certain people's bodies.
LOL---maybe we can introduce you to the mother in this article!
vox -- LOL!
Here's a question for any Psychs out there. What would be the everyday manifestations of this syndrum when it wasn't being brought out through something terrible like what was reported here. In other words are there other indications of this syndrum in day to day coping? thanks.
Yep, it sure does sound like Munchausen by Proxy...
Sounds like a wicked, evil person to me.
sounds like the product of a twisted law-enforcement mind.
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