35-year-old Kaylene Bowen from Texas faces 20 years in jail after she subjected her healthy son to unnecessary medical procedures.
The mother pleaded guilty to causing injury to her son, sending him to doctors’ appointments since he was only 11 days old!
Her son’s care included over 320 doctors and hospital visits.
According to authorities, Bowen appeared to show traits of Munchhausen syndrome by proxy. It is a physiological condition when mothers or caregivers lie or invent symptoms of a child to gain attention.
Because doctors usually have to rely on parents’ description of possible medical problems their child has, unnecessary procedures, tests and surgeries may be required.
Bowen had her son, now 10, fitted with a feeding tube that led to numerous life-threatening blood infections. She also tried to get him on a lung transplant list and placed him in hospice care.
She even started fundraising and made false claims that her son was drying. At first, she said that Christopher had a rare genetic disorder before claiming that he had terminal cancer.
Bowen lost custody of her son when he turned eight along with his two other siblings.
The child’s father, Ryan Crawford, said to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: “I am happy that she decided to do the right thing. Eventually, the lies had to stop.
“Now, hopefully, those who thought a mother could never do this to their child will see evil does exist.”
Crawford also said his child is now okay, having since recovered from Bowen’s abuse. For years, he had tried to convince Dallas County family court judges that Christopher was not ill but they believed the mother.
The father is now trying to bring more attention to cases like Bowen’s, saying: “Medical abuse is under reported every day.
“Now its time to move forward and make sure no child has to suffer the abuse my son endured.”
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