A Texas woman is facing a criminal charge after she allegedly faked her 4-year-old son's medical issues, which involved more than 200 visits to doctors and more than 70 prescriptions.
Megan Michelle Gee, 30, was arrested in Wichita Falls last week after an arrest warrant was obtained by authorities in Tarrant County for a count of felony serious bodily injury to a child.
Wichita Falls is around 100 miles northwest of Tarrant County, which includes Fort Worth, but the arrest affidavit filed in the case says that Gee took her son to 227 doctor and hospital visits during his life, and some of those visits included a hospital in Fort Worth.
Online bond records from Wichita County appear to show that she was booked Wednesday on a charge of injury to a child and was released on a $25,000 bail the next day.
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It was not clear early Tuesday if Gee had an attorney who could speak on her behalf.
In one case in March 2016, Gee told doctors at the Fort Worth hospital that her son would not eat or would become sick after eating and insisted doctors insert a feeding tube, according to the arrest affidavit obtained by NBC News.
Doctors at the hospital told investigators they inserted the tube because of the symptoms Gee described and because she told them that her son had prior medical issues. The warrant states that months before the boy got the feeding tube, a different doctor reported being suspicious that Gee was possibly making up symptoms. The doctors at the Forth Worth hospital said they were unaware a report had been filed.
In June 2017, another report was filed after doctors suspected Gee was "falsifying seizure activity" in her son, the warrant states. The child was then removed from the home and placed with a foster family, who said he appeared normal and healthy.
According to the affidavit, the behavior allegedly started in 2015 and that Gee's visits to doctors and hospitals resulted in the boy being prescribed 77 medications.
In addition to Gee allegedly falsifying symptoms, investigators said she made several posts on Facebook telling her family and friends that her son was sick. In one message, Gee said that her son was having eye problems that were worsening and if eye drops didn't help, he would have to undergo surgery.
The affidavit stated that doctors and investigators suspect Gee was suffering from Munchausen syndrome by proxy. It is also known as factitious disorder by proxy and is a mental health condition that can include when a caregiver makes up symptoms of an illness for a person in his or her care.
It was unclear who currently has custody of the child, and child protective services said it could not comment on the case.
An email seeking comment from the Tarrant County Sheriff's Department was not immediately returned early Tuesday.
Later Tuesday, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services said in an email that it could not release details of the case because DFPS investigations are confidential by law.
But the department said that “Munchausen by proxy cases are very complex, but rare” and that “only a handful” are reported to DFPS each year. “When they are, caseworkers have access to an array of resources to assist in the investigation,” the department of family and protective services said.
