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A child developed a life-threatening infection after being repeatedly drugged by her mother, a judge has found.
The unprescribed medication was administered for more than a year and led to the girl needing a long stay at a children’s hospital, unable to eat or drink and needing 10 blood transfusions.
The judge found her mother’s actions caused the girl, now aged 15, to also suffer significant emotional and psychological harm.
Two other women accused of harming their children in the same way at the same hospital around the same time were found to have not done so following a Family Court hearing.
The children were all long stay patients – often on the same ward – at Sheffield Children’s Hospital during 2020 and 2021.
Each came from separate, previously unconnected families but developed unexplained medical problems that led to their mothers being arrested.
The women, who had all stayed with their children at the hospital, were accused of making their children ill by administering unprescribed drugs and by deliberately contaminating their feeding lines with faecal material.
All the children made a rapid recovery after their mothers were arrested.
Reporting restrictions prevent the naming of any of the families involved in the case.
All three children – the girl and two young boys, now aged five and six, presented with chronic digestive – gastroenterological – illnesses and an apparent inability to eat and drink normally.
Each had to have lines inserted into a vein to deliver nutrients to keep them alive.
They had an exceptionally high number of bacterial infections in their lines, leading to life-threatening sepsis.
Clinicians at Sheffield Children’s Hospital could not understand why the children were so ill and eventually concluded they might be the victim of fabricated or induced illness (FII).
This is described by the NHS as “a rare form of child abuse”, where a parent exaggerates or deliberately causes symptoms of illness in a child.
The actions of each mother were suggested to have led to multiple, avoidable medical interventions, prolonged hospitalisation and brought each child close to death.
The mothers of the two boys were found not to have done so.
The girl’s mother, who has two other children, was arrested in February 2021 after a urine test on her daughter showed the presence of ibuprofen, an anti-inflammatory drug, which had not been prescribed.
A police search found 96 ibuprofen tablets, laxatives, a feeding syringe and a pill crusher.
A Family Court hearing in Leeds in 2023, the judgment from which has only now been published, concluded that from September 2019 to February 2021, the woman, known as MR, administered unprescribed medication to her daughter.
She was given both ibuprofen and piroxicam, a strong pain killer. While the girl was aware her mother was giving her the drugs, she did not know what they were.
Judge Mr Justice Poole concluded taking the drugs had led to the teenager suffering abdominal pain and inflammation, nausea and vomiting, stomach ulcers and gastro-intestinal bleeding.
MR also gave her daughter the laxative Bisacodyl, which the judge said led to her suffering recurrent diarrhoea.
The drugs caused the girl to undergo unnecessary medical interventions, including 10 blood transfusions and surgery to stop ulcers bleeding.
She also had to have a gastric tube fitted, lines inserted to allow nutrition, and multiple endoscopies, in which a camera is inserted into the body to investigate a condition.
An investigation into the mother showed that she had required periods of hospital treatment herself for symptoms that were never fully medically explained, including “pseudo-seizures,” the authenticity of which was questioned by both clinicians and her own family.
At the time of her arrest, she was on repeat prescriptions of a strong painkiller for chronic back pain. She also had mental health issues.
The judge concluded that the relationship between mother and daughter at the hospital became “very intense and unhealthy,” exacerbated by Covid restrictions.
“The isolation and mutual dependency…provided a culture within which unusual and harmful behaviours could develop,” the judge wrote.
Even after her mother’s arrest, the girl continued to take ibuprofen “in an attempt to make herself ill, to cover up for her mother,” he added.
In April 2021, the girl was discharged from hospital into the care of her father and grandparents. She is able to eat normally and has not had any further infections.
She attends school but continues to complain of abdominal pain and remains under the care of a paediatrician.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and South Yorkshire Police have been approached for comment.
The other two mothers were arrested in October 2021. Searches of the rooms they used or had access to did not find evidence to suggest they had been harming their children.
There was also no evidence, the judge said, that any of the three women had tampered with their children’s feeding lines.
He added that national guidelines for clinicians had not been followed as it should have been. This meant when the mothers were referred to social services and the police, the NHS trust had not gathered the evidence it could have done.
At that point, the “accepted narrative” at the Trust was that each mother was guilty of FII (forced or induced illness), he said.
Dr Jeff Perring, executive medical director at Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, said: “This was a finding of fact hearing in the Family Court and, as the judgment makes clear, it was not an inquiry into the conduct of the Trust and its clinicians.
“The 2021 Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health guidance referred to in the judgement is fully embedded at the Trust. Our policies and procedures are reviewed to factor in learning and ensure they continue to be robust and reflect best practice.”
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