A woman from Indiana is facing felony charges after she allegedly injected feces into her son’s IV bag while we was completing cancer treatments.
Tiffany Alberts, 41, reportedly said she did it in hopes that her15-year-old son would be moved to a hospital unit that could provide better treatment, according to court documents obtained by Fox59 News.
Her actions proved counter-productive, as the teenager’s condition worsened. He suffered from septic shock episodes and had to undergo surgery.
The illness ultimately delayed his cancer treatments and has put his chance of remission from leukemia in serious danger, his doctor said in the reports.
Officials said that the incidents began in September, before Alberts took her son home after he had undergone his first round of chemotherapy. The adolescent went back to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis a few days after with fever, diarrhea and vomiting. After several tests, doctors found unexplained organisms in his blood that are normally found in fecal matter.
To get to the bottom of things, the hospital placed video surveillance in the boy’s room. According to the reports, the video captured the mother using a syringe to inject something into her son’s IV bag. When the doctors confronted Alberts, she said she had only injected water because the medicine he was being given “burned” her son. She later confessed to putting fecal matter into the IV bag.
Alberts now faces charges that include neglect of a dependent, neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury, battery and six counts of aggravated battery. All are third-degree felonies, the Huffington Post reports.
The boy’s father died in May, and a family friend began a GoFundMe account to help cover his funeral costs and other bills.
Alberts was released on Wednesday, but the release included a no-contact order issued by a judge. Her attorney refused to comment on the case.
