Plot
A recent transplant from California, Dr. Paula Spencer has just lost her husband and is about to begin her new job at a local hospital. While she is there, a seemingly loving mother, Monica Shaw, brings her son, Eric, in for treatment for his illness. But Dr. Spencer suspects that there is something wrong, and theorizes that Monica is deliberately and abusively making her son sick all the time so that she could have him admitted to the hospital for all of the attention that it gives her. However, hospital administrators are skeptical, and when Eric's young roommate also develops a similar illness, it only serves to make them even more dismissive.
Adding to Dr. Spencer's stress is her troubled relationship with rebellious teenage daughter, Amanda, who is still grieving over the loss of her father and trying to fit in at a new school. To top it off, the two are later victims of a robbery by the woman Dr. Spencer hired as a housekeeper, whose take included some irreplaceable jewelry Amanda had received as gifts from her late father.
When Dr. Spencer decides to ban Monica from being around her ill son and get child services to help him, Monica gets back by trying to get her and the hospital sued. Some of the other employees at the hospital board disagree with Dr. Spencer's diagnosis of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy by thinking she is overreacting. Even when Monica is kept away from Eric, he is getting worse and no better.
With what seems like the whole hospital against her, Dr. Spencer takes on the help of a lawyer and the case goes to court. The court case determines whether social services will take care of the son or whether Monica can keep the child. However, Dr. Spencer believes that losing the court case will mean Eric's death.
At first, things seem to be going in Monica's favor. However, an unexpected break occurs when a young patient tells Amanda (who works as a candy striper at the hospital) that she saw Monica in Eric's room the night before, thus violating the restraining order against her. The next day in court, the prosecution drops a bombshell with the revelation that between 1989 and 1994, while he and his mother lived in Seattle, Eric had been admitted to various hospitals with unexplained abdominal cramps a total of twenty-six times, which was eventually diagnosed as laxative abuse. Furthermore, it is revealed that back in 1982, Monica had a child out of wedlock, who also died of laxative abuse when he was only 18 months old. The revelation of this fact prompts Monica to have a breakdown on the witness stand and results in her losing custody of Eric, who is placed in the care of his grandmother.
Despite her misgivings, satisfied that she had saved Eric's life, Dr. Spencer now realizes she also needs to improve her relationship with Amanda, telling her she loves her and promising to change.
Girl, Interrupted is a best-selling 1993 memoir by American author Susanna Kaysen, relating her experiences as a young woman in an American psychiatric hospital in the 1960s after being diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.
Factitious disorder imposed on another (FDIA), also known as fabricated or induced illness by carers (FII), and first named as Munchausen syndrome by proxy (MSbP), is a mental health disorder in which a caregiver creates the appearance of health problems in another person, typically their child. This may include injuring the child or altering test samples. The caregiver then presents the person as being sick or injured. Permanent injury or death of the victim may occur as a result of their caregiver having the disorder. The behaviour may be motivated by the caretaker seeking sympathy or attention.
Skye Chandler is a fictional character from the ABC soap operas All My Children, One Life to Live, and General Hospital. Initially portrayed by Antoinette Byron, the role was then portrayed by Robin Christopher for most of the next 25 years, with the exception of the mid-1990s, when Carrie Genzel portrayed the character.
Tracy Quartermaine is a fictional character on the ABC soap opera General Hospital. She is played by actress Jane Elliot, who originated the role in 1978 and has played her intermittently since that time, primarily on GH and briefly on The City from 1996 to 1997. In 1980, Elliot won the Daytime Emmy for outstanding supporting actress and was nominated again in 1993. Briefly in 1989, while Jane Elliot was on maternal leave, Christine Jones took on the role. Tracy Quartermaine is currently the show's fifth longest-serving character after Dr. Monica Quartermaine, Luke Spencer, Laura Spencer, and Scott Baldwin.
Monica Quartermaine is a fictional character from General Hospital, an American soap opera on the ABC network, played continually since August 17, 1977 by longtime soap opera actress Leslie Charleson. She is a cardiologist at the eponymous hospital, and widow of physician Alan Quartermaine. The role was originated by Patsy Rahn in 1976, who played the role until showrunners replaced her with Charleson. Charleson's tenure with the serial is one of the longest in American soap operas.
Alan Quartermaine is a fictional character from General Hospital, an American soap opera on the ABC network. Created by head writer Douglas Marland, Stuart Damon first appeared in the role on May 13, 1977.
Jeanie Boulet is a fictional character from the television series ER. The role was portrayed by Gloria Reuben who debuted as a recurring character in the first season episode, "Long Day's Journey", aired on January 19, 1995. Reuben was promoted to the role of series regular as of the second season episode, "Days Like This", aired on November 2, 1995 and made her last regular appearance in the sixth season episode, "The Peace of Wild Things", aired on November 11, 1999.
Edward Quartermaine is a fictional character from General Hospital, an American soap opera on the ABC network. The character was created in 1978, originally played by David Lewis. John Ingle stepped into the role in 1993, and besides a brief hiatus from 2004 until 2006, he portrayed Edward up until his death on September 16, 2012.
Scott "Scotty" Baldwin is a fictional character from the ABC soap opera General Hospital and its now-defunct spinoff Port Charles. The character debuted played by child actors in the 1960s until Kin Shriner assumed the role in 1977. Scotty is often remembered as part of the love triangle with Luke and Laura Spencer; when Scott's wife Laura Webber left him for Luke Spencer, his devastation led to a drastic personality change, and the character became one of General Hospital's long-running villains. However, on Port Charles, the character was portrayed in a more heroic sense.
A.J. Quartermaine is a fictional character from General Hospital, an American soap opera on the ABC network. Born on-screen in 1979 as the only biological child of the iconic Drs. Alan and Monica Quartermaine, A.J. was "SORASed" in 1991, revising his birth year to 1973. The role has been most notably portrayed by the actors Sean Kanan from 1993 to 1997 and Billy Warlock from 1997 to 2003, with a brief return in 2005. Kanan made his on-screen return as A.J. on October 26, 2012, after a 15-year absence. Kanan announced in March 2014 that he would once again be leaving the series, voicing his disappointment over the writing for the character.
Lesley Webber is a fictional character from General Hospital, an American soap opera on the ABC network. Actress Denise Alexander played the role from March 13, 1973 through February 28, 1984, as a series regular, and from 1996 to 2009 as a recurring character. Alexander returned to the series briefly in 2013 to celebrate its 50th anniversary, and has made subsequent appearances in 2017, 2019, and 2021.
Haleigh Poutre is an American woman who became the subject of a legal controversy regarding the removal of life support for patients in persistent vegetative states. In 2006, eleven-year-old Poutre awoke from a coma shortly before she was scheduled to be removed from life support. Poutre had a severe brain injury thought to be caused by abuse by her adoptive mother. The case brought about many changes in the Massachusetts Department of Social Services, both in the way they handle reports of child abuse as well as their policies on end-of-life care for children in their custody.
Hendrika Bestebreurtje Cantwell is a German-born American retired physician, professor emerita of pediatrics at the University of Colorado Denver, advocate for abused and neglected children, and parenting educator. She was one of the first physicians in the United States to work for a child protection agency, serving with the Denver Department of Social Services from 1975 to 1989. Her work there brought her in contact with an estimated 30,000 cases of suspected child abuse and she testified as an expert witness in thousands of court cases. An author of peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and teaching manuals on the detection and treatment of child abuse, she has also conducted workshops and training programs for professionals throughout Colorado. She was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 1990.
On 23 October 2016, a five-year-old boy was pronounced dead at a children's hospital in Singapore. He was found to have been a victim of child abuse by his parents Azlin binte Arujunah and Ridzuan bin Mega Abdul Rahman for months leading up to his death. This involved both Azlin and Ridzuan using boiling hot water to scald the boy on several occasions, inflicting severe burns and scald injuries which caused the boy to die in hospital weeks after the first of the four scalding incidents. The couple was later arrested and charged with murder. To protect his surviving siblings' identities and their privacy, the boy was not named in the media.
Olivia K. Gant was an American girl who died after ongoing medical abuse by her mother, Kelly Renee Turner-Gant, in what was deemed to be a case of Munchausen by proxy. Turner-Gant had initially taken the girl to the hospital for a case of severe constipation; after this was treated successfully and Gant was sent home, Turner-Gant claimed that Gant was unable to consume food, leading to numerous surgeries, the implementation of feeding tubes, and finally an intravenous tube that fed nutrients directly into her veins. The constant hospital visits and surgeries left Gant at times in a wheelchair and bedridden, weakened by an anti-seizure medication that Turner-Gant had convinced a doctor to prescribe her. Gant's death occurred after Turner-Gant swapped Gant's usual doctors, who had refused to sign a do not resuscitate order for the girl, for another doctor willing to sign the order. This allowed Turner-Gant to have all of Gant's feeding tubes removed. Gant was placed in hospice care, where she died from apparent intestinal failure on August 20, 2017. Turner-Gant, who by then went by the name Kelly Turner, was convicted in 2022 and sentenced to 16 years in prison.
