Mother with Munchausen by Proxy syndrome subjected 8-year-old son to unnecessary medical procedures: police

A woman who allegedly subjected her 8-year-old son to unnecessary medical procedures as severe as an appendectomy and a colonoscopy for fabricated ailments has been charged, police in Pennsylvania announced Tuesday.

Christine Maxwell, 48, is charged with aggravated assault of a victim under age 13 by a person older than 18, as well as simple assault, endangering welfare of children, and theft by deception, police in East Pennsboro Township, Pa., said Tuesday.

Police had been alerted back in September of “a caregiver being suspected of child abuse due to Munchausen’s by Proxy,” also known as Caregiver Fabricated Illness.

An “extensive investigation and review of medical records by law enforcement and medical professionals” had revealed that Maxwell, of Enola, Pa., “had fabricated symptoms and illnesses of a juvenile child which required the juvenile to undergo many medical procedures and tests that were unnecessary,” police said.

Procedures included EKGs, ECHOs, a skin biopsy, adenoidectomy, pulmonary function tests, bronchoscopy, appendectomy, GI endoscopy, colonoscopy, MRI, X-rays, ultrasounds and repeated blood draws, reported PennLive.

“My mom tells me when I’m sick,” the boy told police, according to PennLive.

Doctors had told Maxwell that her son was developing normally, and in 2019 a Children and Youth worker had reported her behavior. The boy was taken out of her custody and his father put in charge of the youth’s medical care, PennLive said.

None of the tests showed anything wrong, court documents said. Maxwell was arrested in November for aggravated assault of a victim under 13 years old, PennLive said. Her bail was set at $20,000, and she’s due in court on Feb. 2 for a preliminary hearing.

Munchausen syndrome by proxy is both a mental illness and a form of child abuse, according to the National Library of Medicine. It’s when “the caretaker of a child, most often a mother, either makes up fake symptoms or causes real symptoms to make it look like the child is sick.”