List of Munchausen by proxy cases

Last updated December 13, 2024

This is an incomplete list of Munchausen by proxy cases. Also known as factitious disorder imposed on another, Munchausen by proxy is a condition in which a caregiver creates the appearance of health problems in another person, typically their own child. This may include injuring the proxy or altering test samples. The caregiver then presents the proxy as being sick or injured. Permanent injury or death of the proxy may occur as a result of the disorder. Although the caregiver typically does not benefit from their own behaviour, there are notable cases where the caregiver defrauds charities, insurance companies or local friends and family under the guise of using the resources received for the aid of the proxy.

Origin of name

The name is derived from Munchausen syndrome, which in turn derives from the famous liar in literature, Baron Munchausen; the character was in turn derived from the historical Hieronymus Karl Friedrich, Freiherr von Münchhausen.

Notable victims

Gypsy-Rose Blanchard (see Murder of Dee Dee Blanchard). Gypsy-Rose was Dee Dee's proxy and suffered over a decade of medical abuse^{[ citation needed ]} before rebelling and killing Dee Dee with the help of her boyfriend, Nick; Gypsy Rose and Nick were later convicted and sent to prison. Gypsy-Rose has been released from prison as of December 28th, 2023.
Jennifer Bush: used in a large-scale fraud involving political elites who saw the girl's case as an example of the need for medical reform; mother Kathy Bush was later discovered to have caused Jennifer's symptoms in a case of Munchausen by proxy.^[1]^[2]^[3]
Olivia Gant: died from the removal of her feeding tubes after years of medical abuse by her mother, Kelly Renee Turner-Gant; Turner-Gant was convicted in 2022.^[4]
Julie Gregory: childhood victim of her mother's Munchausen by proxy, which she survived and later documented in her memoir, Sickened: The Memoir of a Munchausen by Proxy Childhood.
Hannah Milbrandt: a girl who was convinced that she suffered from terminal cancer by her parents in a situation of Munchausen by proxy, using community donations in a widescale act of fraud. This is one of the first contested Munchausen by proxy cases, causing a debate about whether it was a situation of true Munchausen or just medical fraud.^[5]
Garnett Spears: killed due to brain swelling induced by repeated salt poisoning by mother Lacey Spears, who was later convicted of murder.^[6]
Eminem: American rapper who has spoken in songs about his mother frequently taking him to doctors and hospitals for tests. He mentions being a victim of the illness in his song Cleanin' Out My Closet : "...going through public housing systems, victim of Münchausen syndrome. My whole life I was made to believe I was sick when I wasn't until I grew up and blew up..." He also received custody of his younger brother due to his mother's battle with the illness.^[7]

Notable perpetrators

Beverley Allitt: British serial killer with Munchausen by proxy, who purposely sickened and killed a number of minor children.
Richard Angelo: American serial killer responsible for overdosing his patients in a hospital where he worked as a nurse in attempts to resuscitate them and look like a "hero", as well as have a sense of "power".
Dee Dee Blanchard: Dee Dee, a Hurricane Katrina survivor, faked multiple chronic illnesses of her daughter, Gypsy-Rose Blanchard, both for sympathy and charitable benefits. Her abuse of Gypsy-Rose led to the girl eventually aiding a secret boyfriend in the murder of Dee Dee, after which the abuse was finally discovered. Gypsy-Rose's experience has been dramatized in movies and TV shows.
Ameh Bozorg in the memoir Not Without My Daughter is not only convinced that she is suffering from some sort of chronic illness, but she also convinces her adult brother, a medical doctor, that he will become ill himself if he bathes because he will "wash all the cells off his skin" and leave himself open to pathogens. Her brother, a trained medical doctor, initially finds this silly, but as the memoir progresses, he begins to follow his older sister's bizarre regimen of not bathing or following healthcare standards. Notably the book does not suggest whether this is true Munchausen by proxy or behaviour based on anti-western sentiment.
Kristen Gilbert: American serial killer responsible for deliberately injecting patients to send them into critical states, hoping to get attention from coming to the rescue and giving notice to the increasing deaths she caused. When the murders didn't work, she'd harass and stalk employees and workplaces, once even calling in a bomb threat.
Wendi Michelle Scott: mother charged with child abuse after purposely sickening her four-year-old daughter.
Shauna Dee Taylor, a Floridian woman who medically abused all 10 of her children, with a specific fascination with their internal organs; she poisoned her infant daughter in a 2013 incident and caused the child to suffer liver damage, setting up a sympathy donation fundraiser page online for the child.
Marybeth Roe Tinning, an American murderer and suspected serial killer who was convicted in New York State of the murder of her ninth child, 4-month-old daughter Tami Lynne, on December 20, 1985. She is suspected to be similarly involved in the previous deaths of her eight children, all of which took place within the span of fourteen years.
Ellen Rupp-Jones, a nurse from Palestine, Texas, pled guilty on June 27, 2023, to charges of injury to a child, exploitation of a child and aggravated assault.^[8] Rupp-Jones injected her then seven-year-old daughter with insulin and glucagon in order to feign diabetes.^[9] Rupp-Jones appeared twice on local news programs to solicit fundraising donations and a “Diabetic Alert Dog” for her daughter.^[10]^[11] She received an eight-year deferred adjudication sentence, 59 days in jail, 300 hours community service, court costs, restitution to the family of the service dog, and an order of protection from her daughter until the latter turns 21.
Cynthia Abcug, a Denver, Colorado mother who was convicted on August 26th, 2022 of misdemeanor child abuse and conspiracy to commit kidnapping^[12] after plotting with Q-Anon members online to enact a raid on the foster home of her then 7-year-old son.^[13] He was removed from her custody due to accusations that she lied about him having seizures, a heart condition, brain tumors, and other health issues in order to trick doctors into providing unnecessary treatments.^[14] Her son is still in foster care and has not had any major health issues since removal from her custody.^[15]

Fictional examples

Boh, an obese infant child in the Japanese 2001 animated feature film Spirited Away , is kept in a padded room by his mother and convinced that he is too sickly to go outside, led by his mother to believe that he will catch germs if he wanders from the room. He later relents and leaves the room, thus meeting new friends and helping to save the life of his mother's gravely injured apprentice.
Cheryl, a parent in the 2013 Lifetime movie The Good Mother (played by Helen Slater) poisons her teenage daughter to death with ricin, then moves on to her next daughter, while basking in the constant sympathy she receives as a grieving mother with terminally-ill children. She tells people that the unnamed "illness" is a genetic condition of sorts, poisoning the daughters until a family friend discovers the abuse and tries to report it.
Kyra Collins, a young girl in The Sixth Sense (played by Mischa Barton), is made to appear ill by her mother (Angelica Page), who gives her symptoms of an illness by poisoning her food. Kyra later dies from the repeated poisoning. Her mother's crimes are later revealed by a VHS tape showing Mrs. Collins mixing Pine Sol into Kira's food.
Colin Craven in various adaptations of The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (most notably the 1993 feature film of the same name), is kept in a single room for most of his life, convinced by his father and the head servant that he is crippled, unable to walk, and too sickly to survive in the outdoor air. His cousin Mary befriends him and takes him outside to the garden, proving to him that he is perfectly well.
Adora Crellin in the miniseries Sharp Objects poisons her daughter Marian, in a case of Munchausen by proxy that goes unsolved until a later investigation.
Natalie Drax from The 9th Life of Louis Drax causes several injuries to her son, Louis, during his lifetime due to her Munchausen by proxy condition.
Edward "Eddie" Kaspbrak from the Stephen King novel It developed hypochondriac behaviours after a childhood living with his single mother in a situation of Munchausen by proxy.
Dorothy Mann from Monkey Shines : Dorothy is annoyed when her quadriplegic son shows signs that he might be able to recover and live a normal life, including the possibility that he might move again and that he can have a romantic relationship. She sells her own house, moves in with him, lies to him and tells him that he is incapable, and attempts to cut off any female relationships he has. The original novel did not feature these elements this heavily.
Mandy Phillips from Fragile : British girl with osteogenesis imperfecta, a condition purposely worsened by obsessed nurse Charlotte when she notices the girl's bones beginning to heal.
Chloe Sherman, a young woman in Run (2020 American film), played by Kiera Allen, is raised by her mother (Sarah Paulson) who treats her real and imagined ailments.
Esme Stoller from Love You to Death : a fictional cosplay fan and victim of her mother's Munchausen by proxy, told that she has cancer and developmental delays; Esme is loosely based on real-life victim Gypsy-Rose Blanchard.
Pauline Whittier from Everything, Everything (film) treats her daughter Maddy for the immune disorder SCID. A doctor later reveals that she never had the disease, just an underdeveloped immune system due to lack of exposure.

Related Research Articles

Sir Samuel Roy Meadow is a British retired paediatrician infamous for facilitating several wrongful convictions of mothers for murdering their babies. He was awarded the Donald Paterson prize of the British Paediatric Association in 1968 for a study of the effects on parents of having a child in hospital. In 1977, he published an academic paper describing a phenomenon dubbed Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy (MSbP). In 1980 he was awarded a professorial chair in paediatrics at St James's University Hospital, Leeds, and in 1998, he was knighted for services to child health.

Julie Gregory is an American author of Sickened: The Memoir of a Munchausen by Proxy Childhood, an autobiographical account of the Münchausen syndrome by proxy abuse she suffered as a child.

A factitious disorder is a mental disorder in which a person, without a malingering motive, acts as if they have an illness by deliberately producing, feigning, or exaggerating symptoms, purely to attain a patient's role. People with a factitious disorder may produce symptoms by contaminating urine samples, taking hallucinogens, injecting fecal material to produce abscesses, and similar behaviour. The word factitious derives from the Latin word factītius, meaning "human-made".

Matricide is the act of killing one's own mother.

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) after Munchausen syndrome, is a mental health disorder in which a caregiver creates the appearance of health problems in another person - typically their child, and sometimes (rarely) when an adult falsely simulates an illness or health issues in another adult partner. This might include altering test samples, injuring a child, falsifying diagnoses, or portraying the appearance of health issues through contrived photographs, videos, and other ‘evidence’ of the supposed illness. The caregiver or partner then continues to present the person as being sick or injured, convincing others of the condition/s and their own suffering as the caregiver. Permanent injury or even death of the victim can occur as a result of the disorder and the caretaker’s actions. The behaviour is generally thought to be motivated by the caregiver or partner seeking the sympathy or attention of other people and/or the wider public.

Beverley Gail Allitt is an English serial killer who was convicted of murdering four infants, attempting to murder three others, and causing grievous bodily harm to a further six at Grantham and Kesteven Hospital, Lincolnshire, between February and April 1991. She committed the murders as a State Enrolled Nurse on the hospital's children's ward.

Marybeth Roe Tinning is an American murderer and suspected serial killer who was convicted in New York State of the murder of her ninth child, 4-month-old daughter Tami Lynne, on December 20, 1985. She is suspected to be similarly involved in the previous deaths of her eight children, all of which took place within the span of fourteen years.

An angel of mercy or angel of death is a type of criminal offender who is usually employed as a medical practitioner or a caregiver and intentionally harms or kills people under their care. The angel of mercy is often in a position of power and may decide the victim would be better off if they no longer suffered from whatever severe illness is plaguing them. This person then uses their knowledge to kill the victim. In some cases, as time goes on, this behavior escalates to encompass the healthy and the easily treated.

Wendi Michelle Scott is a Frederick, Maryland mother of two who was charged on November 16, 2007, with sickening her four-year-old daughter in a case of Münchausen syndrome by proxy.

Garnett-Paul Thompson Spears was a 5-year-old boy who died at a hospital in suburban Valhalla, New York. He was murdered by his mother, Lacey Spears, who injected him with high levels of sodium, leading to encephalitis.

The Chillicothe Correctional Center is a state prison for women in Chillicothe, Livingston County, Missouri, owned and operated by the Missouri Department of Corrections. The $120 million facility opened in late 2008, and with a capacity of 1740 inmates at a mix of security levels.

<i>Mommy Dead and Dearest</i> 2017 documentary film directed by Erin Lee Carr

Mommy Dead and Dearest is a 2017 American documentary film directed by Erin Lee Carr about the murder of Dee Dee Blanchard, for which her daughter, Gypsy Rose Blanchard, and Gypsy's boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn, pleaded guilty and were convicted, respectively. It debuted on HBO on May 16, 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Dee Dee Blanchard</span> 2015 matricide in Missouri, U.S.

Clauddine "Dee Dee" Blanchard was a 48-year-old woman who was found stabbed to death in her Springfield, Missouri, house in June 2015. She was murdered by Nicholas Godejohn. The murder was planned by her daughter, Gypsy-Rose Blanchard.

The Act is an American true crime drama television limited series that premiered in eight parts on March 20, 2019, on Hulu. The plot is based on the life of Gypsy Rose Blanchard and the murder of her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard, who was accused of abusing her daughter by fabricating illness and disabilities. Joey King portrayed Gypsy, while Patricia Arquette played her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard. AnnaSophia Robb, Chloë Sevigny, and Calum Worthy star in supporting roles.

<i>Munchausen</i> (2013 film) 2014 short film by Ari Aster

Munchausen is a 2014 American silent short horror film written and directed by Ari Aster. The film stars Liam Aiken as a boy about to go off to college, and Bonnie Bedelia as his overprotective mother who goes to great lengths to keep him from leaving her.

<i>Love You to Death</i> (2019 film) 2019 American television film

Love You to Death is a 2019 crime drama film that aired on Lifetime. The film is inspired by the murder of Dee Dee Blanchard and stars Marcia Gay Harden, Emily Skeggs, Brennan Keel Cook, Garfield Wilson, Kayla Deorksen, Heather Doerksen, and Tate Donovan.

Olivia K. Gant was a 7-year-old 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.

The Shauna Taylor case was a 2018 criminal trial involving the investigation and conviction of Shauna Dee Taylor, a Floridian housewife who had poisoned her prematurely-born infant daughter with Tylenol and iron supplements, causing acute liver damage due to iron poisoning, from which the child unexpectedly survived. The case rose to further prominence in 2019 when two of Shauna's then-grown adult children, Annie and Joshua Taylor, appeared publicly on the daytime talk show Dr. Phil, reporting that all 10 children documented as being under Shauna's care at one point or another, including themselves, had been subjected to severe physical, verbal and medical abuse. Shauna was diagnosed with Munchausen by proxy and convicted to 12 years in prison for aggravated child abuse, with 15 months of parole to follow.

Gypsy-Rose Alcida Blanchard is an American convicted murderer. She rose to worldwide prominence when she was convicted of second-degree murder in Springfield, Missouri, for the death of her mother Dee Dee Blanchard, who she claims, subjected her to lifelong physical, mental, and medical abuse. She was sentenced to ten years in prison.

Lisa Hayden-Johnson is a British woman from Brixham, Devon, who gained infamy for fabricating her son Matthew's severe illnesses over several years, leading to her conviction and imprisonment. This case is one of the most notable examples of Munchausen syndrome by proxy (MSBP), a form of abuse where a caregiver exaggerates or induces medical conditions in someone under their care to gain attention and sympathy.

References

↑ Candiotti, Susan (July 20, 1999). "Florida woman accused of sickening child for 8 years". CNN.
↑ Candiotti, Susan (October 7, 1999). "Mother found guilty of child abuse, fraud for making daughter sick". CNN.
↑ Renaud, Jean-Paul (July 26, 2005). "Mom, Daughter To Reunite". Sun Sentinel. Archived from the original on 2016-01-15. Retrieved 2016-01-07.
↑ Sallinger, Rick (9 February 2022). "Kelly Turner Sentenced To 16 Years In Prison For Death Of Daughter Olivia Gant". denver.cbslocal.com. CBS News Denver. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
↑ Feldman, Marc. "Combined Munchausen by proxy and malingering by proxy". www.munchausen.com. Marc Feldman, MD. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
↑ Crimesider Staff (April 8, 2015). "Mom sentenced in salt poisoning death of her 5-year-old son". CBS News . Retrieved 1 March 2022.
↑ "Munchausen past and present". Star-Telegram.com.
↑ Staff, KLTV Digital Media (2023-06-27). "Texas nurse who injected daughter with insulin to fake diabetes pleads guilty". www.kwtx.com. Retrieved 2023-06-29.
↑ Boyd, Deanna (June 6, 2019). "Texas nurse accused of falsely claiming her daughter had diabetes, giving girl insulin". Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
↑ Burger, Brenna (2018-11-16). "7-year-old diabetic hopeful for a diabetic alert dog". www.kltv.com. Retrieved 2023-06-29.
↑ Cornell, Cinnamon (2018-11-19). "7-year-old girl receives diabetic alert dog". www.kltv.com. Retrieved 2023-06-29.
↑ "Cynthia Abcug – District Attorney's Office" . Retrieved 2024-08-09.
↑ Shammas, Brittany (2020-01-08). "A mother teamed up with QAnon followers to kidnap her son from protective custody, police say". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286 . Retrieved 2024-08-09.
↑ "Sentencing delayed for mother convicted of 'medical child abuse,' plot to kidnap son from foster care". KUSA.com. 2022-10-06. Retrieved 2024-08-09.
↑ "Mother convicted in Qanon kidnapping plot sentenced to 60 days in jail". NBC News. 2022-11-04. Retrieved 2024-08-09.

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[cnn.com-1] Candiotti, Susan (July 20, 1999). "Florida woman accused of sickening child for 8 years". CNN.

[2] Candiotti, Susan (October 7, 1999). "Mother found guilty of child abuse, fraud for making daughter sick". CNN.

[3] Renaud, Jean-Paul (July 26, 2005). "Mom, Daughter To Reunite". Sun Sentinel. Archived from the original on 2016-01-15. Retrieved 2016-01-07.

[4] Sallinger, Rick (9 February 2022). "Kelly Turner Sentenced To 16 Years In Prison For Death Of Daughter Olivia Gant". denver.cbslocal.com. CBS News Denver. Retrieved 27 February 2022.

[5] Feldman, Marc. "Combined Munchausen by proxy and malingering by proxy". www.munchausen.com. Marc Feldman, MD. Retrieved 28 February 2022.

[6] Crimesider Staff (April 8, 2015). "Mom sentenced in salt poisoning death of her 5-year-old son". CBS News . Retrieved 1 March 2022.

[7] "Munchausen past and present". Star-Telegram.com.

[8] Staff, KLTV Digital Media (2023-06-27). "Texas nurse who injected daughter with insulin to fake diabetes pleads guilty". www.kwtx.com. Retrieved 2023-06-29.

[9] Boyd, Deanna (June 6, 2019). "Texas nurse accused of falsely claiming her daughter had diabetes, giving girl insulin". Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

[10] Burger, Brenna (2018-11-16). "7-year-old diabetic hopeful for a diabetic alert dog". www.kltv.com. Retrieved 2023-06-29.

[11] Cornell, Cinnamon (2018-11-19). "7-year-old girl receives diabetic alert dog". www.kltv.com. Retrieved 2023-06-29.

[12] "Cynthia Abcug – District Attorney's Office" . Retrieved 2024-08-09.

[13] Shammas, Brittany (2020-01-08). "A mother teamed up with QAnon followers to kidnap her son from protective custody, police say". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286 . Retrieved 2024-08-09.

[14] "Sentencing delayed for mother convicted of 'medical child abuse,' plot to kidnap son from foster care". KUSA.com. 2022-10-06. Retrieved 2024-08-09.

[15] "Mother convicted in Qanon kidnapping plot sentenced to 60 days in jail". NBC News. 2022-11-04. Retrieved 2024-08-09.

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