A classic case of Munchausen’s Syndrome by Proxy – when a supposed carer is the one inflicting harm on the patient – was flagged in the nick of time at Lisbon’s D. Estefânia children’s hospital.
37-year-old Patrícia (last name not given) is being held in the psychiatric wing of Caxias prison hospital while her seven year old son remains in an induced coma, slowly recovering from attacks that “almost killed him”.
Says tabloid Correio da Manhã, Patrícia “chose a colourless liquid so as not to be detected”.
“Calling it Holy Water, and mixing it into the child’s hospital drip”, the substance has since been ‘identified’ in lab tests as chloroform – “highly toxic if ingested, inhaled or administered intravenously”.
Doctors at the hospital became suspicious after their patient’s conditioned worsened every time his mother was near him.
Says CM, there was also no diagnosis for the boy’s condition – and every time he appeared to be getting better, he “suddenly got worse”.
With a mother who displayed “highly narcissistic tendencies”, it mercifully didn’t take long for the medical team to start joining all the dots.
Police were alerted, and “discreet vigilance mounted in the hospital”.
Less than 24 hours later Patrícia was ‘caught almost in the act’. Her reasons, say CM, were to get sympathy from an estranged lover who was very fond of her son.
She “wanted her ex to feel sorry for her, and come home”, said the paper.
Now, with the child’s birth-father described as ‘in shock’ over what has been going on, the little boy is believed to be on the long road back to health.
CM explains that he has been essentially ‘poisoned’ since April. His heart has stopped ‘several times’, he’s had kidney failure and hemorrhages in his lungs. “It’s really not clear whether or not he will suffer from consequences in later life”, says the paper, though there is the belief that his brain has not been affected.
As for his mother, she may well be tried for every occasion she allegedly administered chloroform”.
Patrícia is unlikely to get away with a defence of being unfit to plea, says CM, as she most certainly knew what she was doing.
To make matters worse, Patrícia is described as a reserve firefighter (bombeira), stationed (before she was held in preventive custody) in Óbidos.
