‘Profound physical and emotional suffering’: woman who injected son with saltwater sentenced to time in treatment centre

A Winnipeg woman whose untreated mental illness drove her to poison her young son with salt water and other substances for more than eight months has been sentenced to four and a half years custody.

“The resulting harm was severe, placing the child’s life in danger on multiple occasions, causing profound physical and emotional suffering,” provincial court Judge Jerilee Ryle said at a sentencing hearing Thursday, describing the 30-year-old woman’s actions as “sustained and deliberate.”

The woman previously pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated assault. She cannot be named to protect the identify of her now eight-year-old son.

The woman has been diagnosed with factitious disorder imposed on another, a mental disorder previously referred to as Munchausen syndrome by proxy.

Factitious disorder imposed on another is a form of child abuse that occurs when a caregiver purposely makes a child ill or fabricates symptoms of illness and then seeks medical care.

The woman has also been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and has an IQ estimated to be between 75 and 85.

While the woman’s actions were closely tied to her factitious disorder diagnoses, that did not reduce her moral blameworthiness to the point she could evade custody, Ryle said.

“She knew her actions would lead to the intended result – that is, the child would get sick and need medical attention,” Ryle said. “A custodial sentence emphasizing deterrence and denunciation is required to reflect society’s condemnation and protect vulnerable children.”

By the time the woman’s son was five, he had been hospitalized 21 times, admitted to the emergency department 29 times, logged numerous visits to his family doctor and medical specialists and had been diagnosed with 10 medical conditions.

Child and Family Services opened a file with the boy’s family in July 2017 and initiated a safety plan that required the child’s paternal grandmother to supervise him while his father was at work.

By 2019, health-care providers became concerned the boy’s repeated hospitalizations may have been due to factitious disorder imposed on another. In early 2020, Child and Family Services started placing support workers in the boy’s home during work hours. A psychological assessment around the same time recommended the boy’s mother complete specialized counselling, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she was unable to participate until the following October.

In February 2021, the boy was admitted to hospital for nausea, pain and vomiting.

“At that time, the episodes were undiagnosed, they were not fabricated or exaggerated and there was no evidence to support they were being induced,” said an agreed statement of facts previously provided to court.

In a subsequent text exchange with her husband, the woman referenced a “crystal substance” found under the boy’s nose and expressed concern doctors would blame her. “They are from the liquid meds, the antibiotics,” she said. “They will blame me for it.”

In November 2021, the boy was admitted to hospital seriously ill with suspected hypernatremia, which results from high concentrations of sodium in the blood.

The boy was treated and released but was back in hospital again in May 2022 suffering the same symptoms.

Over the course of nine days, the boy’s sodium levels spiked eight times and he underwent multiple medical procedures.

Medical staff agreed “salt toxicity needed to be considered” and barred the boy’s mother from attending the hospital. Over the course of a week, the boy’s sodium levels and health returned to normal.

In September 2022, the boy’s mother made a shocking disclosure to her now ex-husband: for eight months she had been using a syringe to shoot a salt solution up their son’s nose at night.

In an email to her husband in January 2023, the woman “admitted she did not do anything to (the boy) during the daytime because she was scared she would get caught.”

The woman said when the boy was hospitalized in February 2021, she would inject salt water into the boy’s nose when his grandmother was sleeping or in the bathroom and then hide the syringe in her bra. She also admitted feeding the boy raw beef and raw chicken juice and caused him to contract conjunctivitis (pink eye) after putting dishwater in his eye.

The woman’s ex-husband said their son’s bouts of sickness always occurred after he brought up the topic of divorce.

“Every time that moment came when I asked for a divorce, another strange illness would occur that would keep me stuck fighting for (our son),” the man said in a victim impact statement provided to court.

“I truly couldn’t believe a mom could be capable of harming their own child. She was playing a character to keep me in a specific mental state — stuck married to her and focused on getting (our son) healthy.”

According to a psychiatric assessment provided to court, the woman had a “pathological need” to maintain her identity as a mother and caregiver to a sick child. Since her arrest she has shown “a degree of commitment” to treatment, but only limited insight into her actions, telling a doctor at one point: “I didn’t think I was making (her son) that sick.”

Ryle recommended the woman serve her sentence in a regional treatment centre, where she can receive “long-term structured intervention.”

Court heard the boy now lives with his father and has no desire to see his mother.

“With the child now thriving in his father’s care, there is hope that with time and support they can rebuild a life marked by stability, healing and carefree moments,” Ryle said.

dean.pritchard@free.press.mb.ca