Oklahoma mother found guilty of child abuse after faking son’s illnesses for years

A jury final week discovered an Oklahoma mom responsible of two counts of kid abuse after faking her son’s sicknesses for 12 months, in what consultants testified was seemingly a case of Munchausen syndrome by proxy.

The jury handed down the decision on Nov. 17 in U.S. District Court docket for the Jap District of Oklahoma. Federal prosecutors alleged that Kasie Keys spent years falsely claiming that her son, born in 2009, had bother consuming and was terminally in poor health.

Consultants testified that Keys seemingly suffered from Munchausen syndrome by proxy, NBC affiliate KFOR of Oklahoma Metropolis reported.

The situation manifests when “the caretaker of a kid, most frequently a mom, both makes up pretend signs or causes actual signs to make it appear like the kid is sick,” based on the Nationwide Institute of Well being.

Court docket paperwork state that following Keys’ 2012 divorce from the boy’s father, she started telling her son’s medical doctors that he was having bother consuming, utilizing his fingers, talking and controlling his bowels.

The boy’s father didn’t observe these signs, however physicians started diagnosing and treating the boy primarily based on his mom’s studies, based on court docket paperwork. The boy was finally placed on a feeding tube.

Later, the kid was placed on a complete parenteral vitamin routine, which consists of “liquid vitamins that’s given to the affected person by the veins intravenously and bypasses the abdomen and intestines” and requires upkeep by caregivers, court docket paperwork state.

Keys saved the boy on that feeding routine for practically 4 years and failed so as to add the required nutritional vitamins and minerals to it, based on court docket paperwork. Consequently, her son to be hospitalized for malnourishment and hair loss, amongst different points.

She additionally failed to take care of his hygiene, placing him prone to an infection and leaving him in double diapers stuffed with urine and feces, prosecutors alleged. This led to his hospitalization for yeast in his blood, urinary tract an infection and bacterial infections.

Story continues

The trial adopted an October 2021 indictment by a grand jury on six counts of kid abuse and two counts of kid neglect, to which Keys pleaded not responsible, court docket paperwork present.

The jury discovered Keys not responsible on the 2 fees of kid neglect — which, based on the indictment, alleged that she failed to take care of the boy’s feeding routine and hygiene — and declared a mistrial on the opposite 4 fees of kid abuse.

Notes from the foreperson filed with the court docket seem to point the jury struggled to succeed in a verdict, twice asking the choose what they need to do if they might not come to an unanimous resolution.

Youngster abuse in Oklahoma is punishable by as much as life in jail.

Data on Keys’ sentencing was not instantly obtainable.

This text was initially printed on NBCNews.com