Mother Caught On Video Abusing Infant Son Inside Children's Hospital

[Sugar Cookie]

Police in West Virginia said a mother has been arrested after video surveillance at Charleston Area Medical Center (CAMC) Women and Children’s Hospital showed her abusing her 1-month-old son.

"We are very thankful that CAMC was on top of it and reported it quickly so we could make the arrest,” Lt. Tony Hazelett with the Charleston Police Department said Friday during a news conference.

Ashten Kalli Teets, 29, has been charged with child abuse causing injury. The child was in stable condition, but he has serious injuries and will have a long road to recovery, Hazelett said.

Hazelett said police believe this is a case of Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a mental health problem in which a caregiver makes up or causes an illness or injury to a child under his or her care.

Police said the child had been at the hospital since Thursday, and the hospital reported the alleged abuse incident at 8 a.m. Friday. Hazelett said the child had been at other hospitals before coming to CAMC.


Video surveillance was placed in the child’s room at CAMC to capture the alleged abuse after hospital officials became suspicious, he said. The police lieutenant said he could not go into more details about the alleged abuse at this time.

Hazelett said Charleston police are working with other agencies and hospitals to investigate the case

Child Protective Services is conducting an investigation. Teets also has another child, a 3-year-old. Police said Teets has no prior criminal history.

Police: Mother caught on video abusing infant son inside children's hospital

CHARLESTON, W. Va. (WCHS) — Police in West Virginia said a mother has been arrested after video surveillance at Charleston Area Medical Center (CAMC) Women and Children’s Hospital showed her abusing her 1-month-old son. "We are very thankful that CAMC was on top of it and reported it quickly so...

wjla.com

 

[Satanica]

Didn't this used to be rare and now we're hearing about it often?

 

[Mountaineer95]

“police believe this is a case of Munchausen syndrome by proxy”
…don’t let her off that easy. Maybe she is, but maybe she isn’t. She needs to be held fully responsible for the possible lifelong injuries she has brought upon this child.

 

[McDanel]

Didn't this used to be rare and now we're hearing about it often?

I think it has gained greater recognition. I'm still mystified by the cases that lead to surgical interventions, based entirely on an oral medical history from the mother. Don't doctors ever request actual medical history? If I walked in and said I needed part of my intestine removed, and a feeding port put in, I'd wind up in the psych department. How do these women delude doctors?

 

[thuumpr]

I think it has gained greater recognition. I'm still mystified by the cases that lead to surgical interventions, based entirely on an oral medical history from the mother. Don't doctors ever request actual medical history? If I walked in and said I needed part of my intestine removed, and a feeding port put in, I'd wind up in the psych department. How do these women delude doctors?

Don't be too sure... might do the surgery and still put you in the psych ward.

 

[Inferus]

Give me another reason to hate being in Healthcare. This is why I had issues with pediatrics.

 

[Sevens My Charm]

Don't be too sure... might do the surgery and still put you in the psych ward.

Depends on your insurance

 

[Craygor]

Looks like the mother may have been sabotaging the baby's feeding tube.

The child had previously been at Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown for about a month where hospital officials said the child would gain weight when they assisted Teets with feeding, but when the two were left alone it would not maintain that weight, according to the criminal complaint.

When hospital staff became suspicious and reported the situation to Child Protective Services, the complaint alleges Teets took the child and left the hospital against medical advice and brought the baby to Charleston.

CAMC was notified by Ruby Memorial of the suspicious behavior and when staff in Charleston observed the same alleged suspicious behavior it notified police and video surveillance was placed in the child’s room, according to court records.

Charleston police: Mother accused of abusing infant while at Women and Children's Hospital

Charleston police said a mother has been arrested after video surveillance at Charleston Area Medical Center Women and Children’s Hospital showed her abusing her 1-month-old son. "We are very thankful that CAMC was on top of it and reported it quickly so we could make the arrest,” Lt. Tony...

wchstv.com

 

[Sugar Cookie]

The alleged abuse was uncovered by medical staff at the CAMC Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Charleston, who are said to have tipped off law enforcement. Originally, the boy had been at the Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, W.Va. for roughly six weeks where he was being treated for so-called “failure to thrive” issues, such as an inability to gain weight. Against advice, authorities say, the mother left the first hospital and moved the boy to the second one. Staff at each hospital conferred after the move, and suspicions were aroused.

According to police, CAMC quickly came to believe the boy’s difficulty gaining weight was due to abuse. Some 24 hours after the infant was admitted, security cameras were placed in his room. Teets was allegedly seen on video surveillance footage abusing the child.

“[T]he surveillance system captured Teets placing her fingers in the 6-week-old’s mouth deep enough causing the child to vomit on three separate occasions in a 24-hour period,” a criminal complaint obtained by the outlet alleges. “After viewing surveillance footage, medical staff believed the acts of making the child vomit, could create long-term/short-term deterioration of the child’s physical condition.”

Teets has an additional child. Authorities, however, do not believe any harm has come to the elder sibling. Still, CPS is said to be investigating the family and the living situation at present just to make sure.

Mom Accused of Munchausen-by-Proxy Abuse of Infant by 'Making the Child Vomit' So He Couldn't Gain Weight

A West Virginia woman has been arrested and charged in connection with the alleged medical abuse of her weeks-old infant son.

lawandcrime.com

 

[thuumpr]

Mom Accused of Munchausen-by-Proxy Abuse of Infant by 'Making the Child Vomit' So He Couldn't Gain Weight

A West Virginia woman has been arrested and charged in connection with the alleged medical abuse of her weeks-old infant son.

lawandcrime.com

I think she could probably use a little 'thinning'.

A fist in her throat is what I'm thinking (perverts)!

 

[Mountaineer95]

“…surveillance system captured Teets placing her fingers in the 6-week-old’s mouth deep enough causing the child to vomit on three separate occasions in a 24-hour period”

JFC. That’s really bad. I don’t know if I’ve heard of a munchausen case like this. That’s flat out severe child abuse. That could even possibly kill a baby (aspiration pneumonia or drowning in one’s own vomit are very real things.)

 

[Mountaineer95]

Wait…according to the articles, if I’m reading this right, they installed the cameras AFTER they suspected her of abuse…yet she was able to forcefully gag her baby THREE times over a 24-hour period, all of which was recorded? Was nobody looking at the surveillance to catch the FIRST TIME she did it and get the baby safely away from her? If they suspected her to the point of installing surveillance, you’d THINK they would actually be MONITORING the surveillance. If I’m misunderstanding the sequence of things, please let me know. If not…that’s bad on the part of hospital authorities and staff.

 

[Sugar Cookie]

@Mountaineer95

I wonder if they wanted to make sure they had proof of undeniable abuse?

 

[Sevens My Charm]

@Sugar Cookie my moneys on undeniable “recorded” interaction .. we paid people or rotated depending on how many cameras were in play to sit and watch live feed at the closet located hidden in a hallowed out box in the center of the nurses desk .. it looked like cabinets all the way around but was our monitoring station .. you don’t automatically record why you have people watching live monitors .. if it looks off you begin recording .. most people are far from smart or slick .. we usually caught them pretty quickly .. sometimes you have to watch the con to know what’s coming again later .. @Mountaineer95 .. I am also guessing it depends on how big the hospital is .. if they have designated rooms .. how quickly the flow of information between hospitals and staffing .. you have to play a little dirty .. you convince the mark you totally understand & agree .. ask options and act like you think they’re the absolute best parents in the entire world and basically they’re sacrificing their lives and happiness for their children and you feel their struggles and tiredness ..