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A twisted Texas mom forced her 3-year-old son to undergo surgery, use a wheelchair and eat through a feeding tube in a suspected horrific case of Munchausen by Proxy, authorities say.
Kaitlyn Rose Laura, 30, was charged with aggravated assault and causing serious bodily injury to a child for the alleged monthslong abuse of her young son, CBS News said in a report.
“This narcissistic person, for their own pleasure of getting the sympathy for having a fragile child, is what we see playing out in front of us the child is being tortured,” Sheriff Bill Waybourn told KFDM-TV News.
“There are scars on his body from those surgeries that weren’t necessary, and he’s going to have to be told, ‘Why are they here?’ So there could be trauma for many, many years to come.”
Laura claimed the tot suffered from cerebral palsy and couldn’t walk or eat solid food — even though the medical staffers and a teacher at school said none of the resulting intrusive medical treatments seemed necessary, the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office said in a warrant.
The allegedly deranged mom even started three phony gofundme.com furndraising pages for her son.
Laura’s behavior appears to mirror Munchausen by Proxy, which involves parents subjecting their children to intrusive but unnecessary medical treatments to gain sympathy and attention.
Laura allegedly claimed complications during the boy’s birth in August 2022, including a lack of oxygen, caused his disabilities, although the assertions were not supported by medical records.
She claimed he suffered from cerebral palsy, could not eat solid food and was continuing to deteriorate, authorities said.
After Laura harassed doctors and staffers at several Texas hospitals, the boy finally had a feeding tube implanted in May.
The first report of Laura’s alleged medical abuse was made to Child Protective Services in June, but in December, another feeding tube was still implanted.
At some point, medical staffers and the tot’s teacher reported that the boy was able to eat solid food and was able to get around without a wheelchair or a “gait trainer” walking device, KFDM reported.
Laura took the boy out of school and continued to seek medical intervention — until authorities finally took the toddler from his mom on Valentine’s Day, which led to further investigation and her arrest last month.
Authorities are still investigating Laura’s fundraising efforts and said a separate probe is investigating possible related Medicaid fraud, CBS News said.
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