Woman With Munchausen's By Proxy Pleads Guilty
Maggie8097
for the authorities to connect the deaths/injuries of multiple children in one
family. Scary. From the AP:
SAN ANTONIO (AP) - A mother believed to have a disorder that causes her to
injure or kill children for attention pleaded guilty Monday to endangering one
son by tampering with his hospital feeding tube.
Cynthia Martinez Lyda, 32, pleaded guilty to child injury charges and faces up
to 32 years in prison at sentencing. Her plea came on the eve of jury selection
in her trial.
Doctors have diagnosed her with Munchausen's syndrome by proxy, a disorder in
which caregivers fake or induce illnesses in children to win attention by
rescuing them. Mrs. Lyda denies having the condition.
Of her six sons, Aaron died when he was 2 years old of poisoning from ipecac, a
syrup used to induce vomiting in children. Another son, Daniel, now 7, fell
into a vegetative state at a hospital six years ago when a machine monitoring
his respiratory and heart rate was turned off.
And a foster son died when he was 2 years old while in Mrs. Lyda's care in
Phoenix in 1993.
Monday's charges pertained to Joseph, 5, who nearly died when he was eight
months old.
Officials at Wilford Hall Medical Center on Lackland Air Force Base in San
Antonio had installed a camera in the boy's room after becoming suspicious of
the mother. The camera showed her disconnecting the tube and blowing into it,
forcing air into his stomach.
She was also caught disconnecting a ventilator tube leading into the boy's
trachea, depriving him of oxygen for a full minute, and inserting some gauze
into his feeding tube, blocking the flow of food.
Mrs. Lyda contended she was trying to unblock the tube.
``At the time, your honor, I intentionally did what I did,'' Mrs. Lyda said in
court. ``I understand it was reckless, especially now, five years later. But at
the time, I thought it was best for my son.''
As part of her plea bargain, charges related to Daniel's case were dropped. No
charges were filed against her in the deaths of Aaron and the foster child.
As she being led to jail to await sentencing, she cried and waved to her second
husband, with whom she has two sons who have been placed in foster care. The
couple has gone to court to regain custody.
Meanwhile, her former husband has custody of the three other sons, Daniel,
Joseph and Anthony, 12.
Copyright 1999 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Maggie
"You don't really understand human nature unless you know why a child on a
merry-go-round will wave at his parents every time around--and why his parents
will always wave back."--William D. Tammeus
John R. Woodward
Maggie8097 wrote in message <19990329234958...@ng13.aol.com>...
>You know, I'd bet that if the parents move around enough, there's just no
way
>for the authorities to connect the deaths/injuries of multiple children in
one
>family. Scary
The key to the solution of the Waneta Hoyt and Mary Beth Tinning cases was
that the family stayed put through the half-a-dozen or more deaths. (Those
cases are written up in GOODBEY, MY LITTLE ONES and FROM CRADLE TO GRAVE,
respectively.) In the Priscilla Phillips case, which only involved one dead
child and one very sick one, the family also stayed put and saw the same
physicians from one case to the next (see A MOTHER'S TRIAL.) The Tanya Reid
case, which also involved one dead child and one very sick one, was similar
in that the Reid family remained in the same community and continued to use
the same clinics, hospitals, doctorsl, etc., but differed in that Tanya Reid
placed her child in respiratory arrest dozens of times over a period of
months, and it was this repeated arrival the ER that tipped the staff to the
mother's Munchausen (see MOCKINGBIRD). On the other hand, Diana Lumbrera
traveled from state to state and from community to community. The doctors
and other health care professionals who treated the children who were her
later victims never knew of the earlier deaths -- but that still didn't
enable Ms. Lumbrera to escape from the consequences of mudering her children
(see MOMMY'S LITTLE ANGELS).
On the evidence of my t-c collection (probably the biggest collection
belonging to any alt.t-c poster except Joe1Orbit!), you are certainly
correct, dear Maggie.
Steve
Lo52964 <lo5...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:19990330190433...@ng134.aol.com...
> >maggi...@aol.comSPAMBLOC (Maggie8097)
> writes
> >Doctors have diagnosed her with Munchausen's syndrome by proxy, a
disorder in
> >which caregivers fake or induce illnesses in children to win attention by
> >rescuing them. Mrs. Lyda denies having the condition.
>
Really? When I worked at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, there was a
mother who was having her 8 year-old daughter drink blood from her IV line.
She would then induce her to vomit, to give the effect of severe GI
bleeding. We called it M by proxy. There were a few similar cases
involving mothers and daughters at other times. I am curious why you state
it doesn't exist? Is there a better name for it?
Here are some sites which describe it...
http://behavenet.com/capsules/disorders/munchausenproxy.htm
http://www.mindspring.com/~louisalasher/
a. tawil
> ***Didn't you read the article? The children were all over a year old and one
> was a foster child. Women who kill children due to post partum depression can
> probably think of more efficient and expeditious ways to do it than bringing
> them to a hospital and blowing into their feeding tube.
I agree. Not that I claim expertise in this area, but every time I read a
news article about a killing caused by post partum depression or post
partum psychosis, it's a short violent spurt; like a blow or a shake or a
pillow over the face. This seemed more like a calculated and prolonged
effort to cause injury.
Peace,
Andrea
"I wish I were jupiter! I would like to kidnap everybody and lay them down
in the firmament and make love to you all!"
-Roberto Benigni, upon winning the Best Actor Award at the 71st Annual
Acadamy Awards
Lo52964
writes
>Doctors have diagnosed her with Munchausen's syndrome by proxy, a disorder in
>which caregivers fake or induce illnesses in children to win attention by
>rescuing them. Mrs. Lyda denies having the condition.
She is telling the truth. There is no such animal as M by Proxy.
I'd like to know what the dates of birth of each child was, I'll bet that every
criminal action was within 1 year of a delivery and what we are really dealing
with is post partum depression. Nobody this side of the Pond believes it but
the European studies are impressiove.
" Don't talk to me about justice, it is bad enough to be mixed up with the
law."
LO5 2964
Maggie8097
>writes
>>Doctors have diagnosed her with Munchausen's syndrome by proxy, a disorder
>in
>>which caregivers fake or induce illnesses in children to win attention
>by
>>rescuing them. Mrs. Lyda denies having the condition.
>
> She is telling the truth. There is no such animal as M by Proxy.
>
>I'd like to know what the dates of birth of each child was, I'll bet that
>every
>criminal action was within 1 year of a delivery and what we are really dealing
>with is post partum depression. Nobody this side of the Pond believes it
>but
>the European studies are impressiove.
***Didn't you read the article? The children were all over a year old and one
was a foster child. Women who kill children due to post partum depression can
probably think of more efficient and expeditious ways to do it than bringing
them to a hospital and blowing into their feeding tube.