Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy and Female Serial Killers

Munchausen Syndrome is generally classified when a person fakes or exaggerates an illness for sympathy and attention. In some cases this can include multiple hospital visits and treatments that are not necessary. Munchausen Syndrome by proxy is when a parent or care-giver expresses these symptoms through a child. This is seen as a form of child abuse. Some cases are so severe that death can result.

In most instances the perpetrator will inflict some form of bodily harm on the unsuspecting child and either work to bring them back to life or rush them to a hospital claiming something happened and ask for immediate help. Here are three examples of Munchausen Syndrome by proxy and the murderous women it afflicted.

Beverly Allitt

Dubbed the Angel of Death in England, Beverly Allitt’s murderous journey began in 1991. The English nurse and serial killer worked with sick children and infants where she injected some with medicines that would cause cardiac arrest. Her four victims included a seven week old, an eleven year old with cerebral palsy, a two month old and a fifteen month old. Allitt was subsequently caught and sentenced to 40 years in prison. She is eligible for parole after only serving 30 years.

Genene Jones

From 1978 to 1982 the twenty-seven year old nurse moved all around the state of Texas, from hospital to hospital, and is thought to have murdered an upwards of forty-seven children. Jones would inject a heart medication into the child victim and when the child began to show the appropriate signs Jones would go to great lengths to revive them. She enjoyed being recognized for her heroic efforts, but as more and more children began to die under her care the appropriate authorities became suspicious. Eventually caught in San Antonio, Texas, Jones was tried and convicted of eleven murders.

Marybeth Tinning

In 1987 Marybeth Tinning was sentenced to life imprisonment in the state of New York. Tinning murdered nine of her children. Strangling them into unconsciousness Tinning would rush a child to the hospital and tell the doctors the child had simply stopped breathing. The doctors thought it had to be some kind of genetic condition until Tinning brought in the unconscious body of her adopted son. It was after this incident the doctors became suspicious. Tinning eventually confessed to murdering her children but she later retracted the confession.

Please visit these sites for more information:

www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beverly_Allitt

www.familyofmen.ca/index.php?pr=female_serial_killers

www.socyberty.com/people/seven-famous-female-serial-killers-of-their-time


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