A Texas mother was arrested on suspicion of serious injury because she lied that her 8-year-old son was seriously ill, leading to 13 unnecessary major operations.
The suspect is Karin Bowen, 34, BBC reported on the 13th. Since her son Christopher was born in 2009, she took her child to the hospital 323 times and lied to the doctor that her son was allergic to milk, had serious adverse reactions and needed a lung transplant. She claimed that the child developed epilepsy for seven minutes.
Bowen even created a fundraising page on social media to help children receive treatment. She claimed that her son was "terminally ill with cancer" and had a rare genetic disease, which raised more than 8000 dollars.
The prosecution said that Christopher had 13 major operations due to his so-called "serious illness", used a ventilator, sat in a wheelchair, and inserted his esophagus. Most of the operations were performed at the Dallas Medical Center. Christopher had 3 fatal blood infections due to invasive treatment.
Two years ago, doctors began to doubt Bowen's statement, so they contacted child protection services. The medical staff finally concluded that Christopher was actually not ill.
"I'm worried that this mother is not exaggerating her child's illness, but inducing symptoms." Susan Dakiel, a doctor at the child protection service, said, "If she gives Christopher some drugs that can induce epilepsy, it may be fatal."
Ryan Crawford, the father of the child, said that he and Bowen had already broken up, but had long suspected her behavior. Crawford is convinced that Bowen suffers from Menjosen's syndrome, a psychological disease that patients often deliberately create diseases for themselves or others to attract attention. "From the eighth day after the birth of the child, Bowen had this extreme behavior.". Over the years, Crawford has been fighting for custody of children. But Bowen always cried to the judge that Crawford was an incompetent father.
"She stated to the judge that the doctor diagnosed that the child would never walk again, needed to insert a feeding tube, and even claimed that the child was dying... I was shocked because I knew that the son was very healthy." Crawford cried, "It's unbelievable that the child has undergone so many operations."
Bowen is being held in Dallas County Prison. She denies all charges and insists that the child is ill. Christopher is being taken care of by the nursing center. He has taken off the feeding tube and can eat normally. According to Xinhua News Agency
