- Christine Maxwell, 48, from Pennsylvania, charged with aggravated assault, easy assault, endangering the welfare of kids and theft by deception
- Maxwell is accused of subjecting her eight-year-old son to a litany of pointless medical procedures, together with appendectomy
- She additionally had the boy endure colonoscopy, GI endoscopy, pores and skin biopsy, MRI, ultrasounds and EKGs
- All procedures have been carried out regardless of docs assuring Maxwell that her son was wholesome
- Munchausen's by Proxy is a situation the place an grownup will invent medical situations for his or her little one in order that they'll get consideration or sympathy
A Pennsylvania mom has been accused of forcing her eight-year-old son to endure a string of pointless and invasive medical procedures, together with surgical procedures, in a suspected Munchausen's by Proxy case.
Christine Maxwell, 48, from Enola, has been charged with aggravated assault, easy assault, endangering the welfare of kids and theft by deception.
In accordance with court docket filings, police in East Pennsboro Township launched an investigation into Maxwell again in September 2019, after receiving a report from a social employee a few caregiver suspected of kid abuse as a result of Munchausen's by Proxy, often known as Caregiver Fabricated Sickness.
Maxwell's son, who was eight on the time, was quoted in an possible trigger affidavit as telling investigators: 'my mother tells me after I'm sick.'
Maxwell was arrested in November 2021, however police solely introduced prices in opposition to her on Tuesday.
In accordance with the affidavit cited by PennLive.com, by the point a baby companies caseworker raised the alarm about Maxwell's alleged conduct, her son had undergone a number of EKGs and ECHOs, surgical procedures to take away his appendix and adenoids, a colonoscopy, a pores and skin biopsy, a bronchoscopy, a gastrointestinal endoscopy, an MRI check, a number of X-rays, ultrasounds and blood attracts.
All of those procedures have been carried out regardless of docs assuring Maxwell that her son was wholesome.
The court docket submitting alleges that Maxwell insisted on the pores and skin biopsy for her son after he was bitten by bugs, whereas the bronchoscopy - a process involving an instrument being inserted right into a affected person's airways by means of the nostril or mouth - was ordered as a result of the kid had a barking cough.
WHAT IS MUNCHAUSEN?
'A biopsy is an invasive process which is totally pointless and put him vulnerable to ache, scarring, an infection, and bleeding,' investigators acknowledged. 'A bronchoscopy is a check that requires sedation and carries some threat (resembling respiratory despair, bleeding, and potential perforation of airway).'
Each assessments failed to point out any abnormalities, the paperwork acknowledged.
'This abusive conduct has impacted [the child's] improvement by limiting his exercise, main him to consider that he's in poor health when he isn't, and inflicting him to overlook faculty days unnecessarily,' the affidavit learn.
Maxwell's son was taken away from her by the state within the fall of 2019. Since then, the kid has been wholesome, with no experiences of sickness. The boy's father is now accountable for all medical determination.
On December 7, a decide set Maxwell's bail at $20,000. As of Wednesday, she was not listed among the many present inmates on the Cumberland County jail.
Munchausen's by Proxy is a psychological sickness and a type of extreme little one abuse, by which a caregiver invents or causes an sickness or damage of their little one.
One of the vital high-profile circumstances of Munchhausen includes Gypsy Rose Blanchard, who killed her mom after she spent years treating her as is she was terminally in poor health and maintaining her confined to a wheelchair.
Clauddine Blanchard was discovered stabbed to loss of life in her mattress in 2015, resulting in Gypsy Rose's ultimately arrest and conviction. She is at the moment serving a 10-year sentence in Missouri.
