A Texas mother has been accused of forging her young son’s medical history to manipulate doctors into performing unnecessary procedures on him.
For months, Kaitlyn Rose Laura allegedly convinced doctors her three year-old boy was so ill he needed treatments including the insertion of feeding tubes.
The 31 year-old also made the child use a wheelchair when he did not need one, and claimed on social media he had cerebral palsy, cops say.
CBS News reported the mother had her son on 17 types of medication and eating less than 1,000 calories, including dog food.
Laura has now been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and causing serious bodily injury to a child, the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office said.
Sheriff Bill Waybourn called the alleged abuse a “horrific crime” in a statement following Laura’s arrest.
“This narcissistic person, for their own pleasure and the sympathy of having a fragile child, is what we see playing out in front of us,” Waybourn told CBS News.
“There are scars on his body from surgeries that weren’t necessary... there could be trauma for many, many years to come.”
In an affidavit seen by NBC, medical providers said there were several conditions reported by the suspect which were later unsupported by testing or evaluations, including cerebral palsy, severe feeding issues and seizures.
In one instance reported in the document, the boy was brought to the emergency room for supposed dehydration and an inability to eat, but medical staff observed him eating snacks and meals and showing no signs of dehydration.
In the affidavit, doctors said Laura seemed fixated on them performing invasive treatments on the child.
According to the same document, a paediatric gastroenterologist said Laura was “very pushy” about the application of a feeding tube and refused alternative treatments.
It also claims that Laura sought increasingly severe treatment, including palliative and end-of-life care.
The boy even underwent a procedure to insert a gastrojejunostomy tube, that creates a new connection between the stomach and the small intestine, authorities say.
According to the NBC, Laura appealed for funds online, as well as gifts from an Amazon wish list, and in one post claimws her son would be in wheelchair for life.
Laura also reportedly used a Facebook page to track the son’s supposed medical journey. Authorities say there is an investigation underway into potential Medicaid fraud. In a statement to NBC, GoFundMe said the fundraisers have been removed and all donors have been refunded.
Laura declined to comment after requests from multiple news outlets.
According to reports, police in Glen Rose referred the case to Tarrant County in February after they said they lacked the resources to investigate the claims.
Sheriff Waybourn told NBC Dallas-Fort Worth: “These cases are often complex and challenging to investigate, which can lead to them being overlooked within the criminal justice system.”
He said it was “absolutely sickening, when we’ve got a person who knowingly and intentionally simply tortures a child”, adding that his own adopted daughter was once a victim of medical abuse.
