Did Kellie Lewis really injure her baby?

[TheImperialCerealKiller]

The details on this one are pretty vague, but this lady sure has alot of defenders. Not to mention the many commenters who don't know the mom, but don't trust the hospital. And geesh, the mom just looks so sweet and upset, unlike some of the callous bitches featured here. On the other hand, 4 kids by the age of 26... gotta be stressful. Is this a case of a crazy Munchausen's broad, or an innocent mother caught up in every parent's worst nightmare? Place your bets now, folks. This may be an interesting one to follow....


A Milan, Indiana woman charged with child endangering appeared in court Wednesday morning.

Kellie Lewis, 26, was arrested after taking her 9 month old daughter to Cincinnati Children's Hospital.

Lewis was bailed out of the Hamilton County Justice Center on a $5,000 bond.

Judge Dale Mallory also issued a temporary restraining order for Lewis to stay away from her daughter.

Cincinnati Police detectives say additional charges may be filed as they continue to investigate the case.

Police say Lewis deliberately injured her daughter, Sophia, requiring the child to receive at least six blood transfusions and additional medical care.

Staff at Children's Hospital contacted police when they discovered peculiarities with the child. The family however says the hospital may be at fault for aggravating medical conditions of the prematurely born infant.

Lewis' family says she is good mother and that the charges are the result of the hospital's negligence.

John Helton, Kellie's father says, "As far as what they have alleged about her trying to harm her child at the Children's Hospital, its totally false. Because she's done everything she can to try to save that baby's life."

Kellie's mother, Kathy says, "There's multi things thats happened with Sophia there that nurses have done that were incredibly neglect on their part that simply should not have happened with infants."
http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=a8a29256-6549-4dee-9cee-1ab051e1cdcc

More details:
-The child's past medical records were part of the investigation.
-Kellie Lewis refused to agree to the restraining order, so it was signed for her by the judge.


Her family says the premature baby has experienced many health issues in her short life, and they say the hospital is to blame.

"Sophia was doing good up to about – I'm estimating five-months-old when she started having some problems,and issues – and that's where it all started," said Lewis's mother, Kathy Helton.

"She had told them numerous times that the things they had done to this child as far as up there – a lead had been swallowed, that a nurse had left there at the hospital – and had been given IV fluids in the wrong tubes," added John Helton, Lewis's father.

But after an eight-hour investigation, Cincinnati police arrested Lewis.

Children's Hospital is not commenting on the case, but did say the hospital's Mayerson Center handles all potential child abuse cases at the hospital.

The center has a team of on-site investigators consisting of Cincinnati police, Hamilton County sheriff's officers and Department of Human Services staff.

The case is scheduled to go before the grand jury September 12.
http://www.kypost.com/content/wcposhared/story.aspx?content_id=6875117a-d38b-4022-85ef-380fffc7cf33

Comments from some people online who claim to know her:

I know this family- not closely, we're not friends, so I won't claim great inside knowledge. But I know enough of her character to personally belive she didn't purpousfully do anything to Sophie. The few facts I know, Sophie has been sick since she was born, Sophie was in the hospital as of Aug. 29th. So she wasn't just taken there out of the blue on the Tues. Kellie was arrested. I agree that there is more to the story, and if she is indeed guilty and they know it, where are the facts? Why the low bond?


This is actually my second cousin and this is the summary of the story as I have heard it thus far...Sophia has been in the hospital more or less a majority of her life becuase she was born premature. Kellie is a GREAT mom. She has 4 kids and every pregnancy she had severe medical issue risking her life to have children becuase she LOVES her kids and she has wanted a family more than anyone I know. From what I have heard the baby had swallowed and EKG lead...which the nurse should have caught when one was missing. After a while of medical care..and the numorous blood transfusions is when they discovered the lead in her digestive tract. Kellie began asking questions and wanting her daughter transfered to Good Sam and that's when they decided to arrest her for child endangerment. I am just beside myself. A great mother gets arrested and charged when she is only trying to get proper care for her child and the negligent party who is trying to avoid a lawsuit is the ones caring for the baby right now.


Kellie is a wonderful mother. She has been by her baby's side since her birth making sure she gets the best care but Kellie caught too many mistakes by Children's and they didn't want her staying by her baby anymore. Kellie didn't cause the bleeding, she is trying to keep her daughter safe and now they have banned her from the hospital. Imagine not being able to see your child after being literally by her side since she was born. Children's should be made accountable for their actions. The bleeding started after the 'lead' was swallowed and they are trying to blame the mother? I hope that this sparks an interest from the public so that these allegations are investigated and Kellie's name is cleared. Children's Hospital cannot be allowed to continue to intimidate parents and cover up their mistakes by wrongly accusing the parents to take the focus away from themselves. Good luck Kellie and Scott, I'm praying for all of you. Sophie is one lucky girl to have you for parents.
http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=a8a29256-6549-4dee-9cee-1ab051e1cdcc
http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080903/NEWS0107/309030029&s=d&page=4#pluckcomments



P.S. Can someone add her picture (found at the links) to this thread? I cannot for the life of me figure out how to do it!

[Unamused Cat]

http://i38.tinypic.com/14ipzd0.jpg
Kellie Lewis

[tricia381]

hmm, so are they (LE and Children's) implying that the mother forced the baby to swallow the lead? hospitals make mistakes, and they lie to cover their asses...I know first hand how corrupt hospitals can be (I actually had my arm broken by an RN in the ER who told LE and other staff members I fell off of the gurney, but how do you explain the spiral fracture?)
I cant make a definate judgement since I dont know all the details, however I believe the mother is innocent from what I have seen so far. Kids put things in their mouths, especially 9month old babies. And being premature can cause all kinds of problems. I hate to think that this woman is innocent and is not able to be with her baby, who is probably wondering where mommy is. This is extremely sad. Its not like she beat the baby into a coma and tried to hide it.

[brokenandtwisted]

I don't think she did it...she looks sincere and really upset. :noidea:

[SocialGhost]

http://i38.tinypic.com/14ipzd0.jpg
Kellie Lewis

That has to be the saddest mugshot I have ever seen.

[Gilbrit]

This may be an interesting one to follow....

Keep a close eye on this one...

I think this is just the start of the story.
No matter how it plays out, this one has caught my attention and intrigue.

[Sarabei]

I want to see how this one plays out as well. Right now I don't think she is quilty, I think the hospital is......if she IS innocent, I hope she gets her baby back and that hospital pays a high penalty for doing this to an innocent mother when so many guilty ones go free!!

[Gilleis]

Kudos to the mom for at least looking as upset as a person possibly can. If she isn't honest to god innocent then someone needs to hand her an Academy Award on her way to prison. I also know first-hand that a hospital will lie out its ass to cover any wrong doing on the part of their staff. It doesn't take a lot of online searching to see that it happens all the time. Hopefully the truth is discovered quickly and the family can be re-united soon. Poor girl.

[Silvahalo]

This one has my curiosity going...like to know more on the particulars of the babies health...any strange injuries?

[Piper]

Hospitals have very powerful legal departments and they are not too moralistic to lie to cover their asses. I believe this mother did nothing wrong to this child other than trust the hospital staff to help her baby. I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of this. All we need is an x-ray showing the lead in the baby's stomach and that will end this. However, if any such image existed there's a VERY good chance that it is now destroyed. Fortunately in today's world of audit trails and electronic signatures many times investigators can go in and uncover that stuff (or at least a record that it existed and who deleted it).

Prayers for that little girl and her family!

[justmeintn]

I don't think she did it...she looks sincere and really upset. :noidea:

I agree.

[brokenandtwisted]

Hospitals have very powerful legal departments and they are not too moralistic to lie to cover their asses. I believe this mother did nothing wrong to this child other than trust the hospital staff to help her baby. I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of this. All we need is an x-ray showing the lead in the baby's stomach and that will end this. However, if any such image existed there's a VERY good chance that it is now destroyed. Fortunately in today's world of audit trails and electronic signatures many times investigators can go in and uncover that stuff (or at least a record that it existed and who deleted it).

Prayers for that little girl and her family!

Hardball coming......and they have absolutely no reason to be. A hospital sued is a hospital who's funding is pulled. Which in the end, is detrimental to society. Law schools pretty much cover anything and everything to do with hospitals in one course or another...like this one (http://www.law.utoronto.ca/prosp_stdn_content.asp?docNo=1277&itemPath=3/7/4/0/0&cType=coursespg).

[crickett]

Where is the EKG lead now? The intestine of an infant this size will probably NOT pass the lead so it will need to be surgically removed. At the very least requiring a lead to be passed down the GI tract and grabbers to pull the lead out (IF it is no further than the stomach or just below).
Doesn't sound right. She needs a GOOD medical malpractice attorney NOW. I pray that she gets one.
God protect her and her children.

[brokenandtwisted]

Where is the EKG lead now? The intestine of an infant this size will probably NOT pass the lead so it will need to be surgically removed. At the very least requiring a lead to be passed down the GI tract and grabbers to pull the lead out (IF it is no further than the stomach or just below).
Doesn't sound right. She needs a GOOD medical malpractice attorney NOW. I pray that she gets one.
God protect her and her children.

Yeah. I think my quote above yours was insinuating there was nothing people could do. Wasn't what I meant. I meant (as a solution that) the administration needs to hire competent people.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Doctors couldn't figure out why 9-month-old Sophia Lewis was losing so much blood when she was taken to Cincinnati's Children's Hospital last summer.

The infant's mother - Kellie Lewis, 27, of Milan, Ind. - first took her daughter to Indiana doctors.

When they couldn't solve the problem, they referred her to the Cincinnati hospital in search of a solution.

Doctors there found the problem and it resulted in the mom's arrest.

Lewis was charged with child endangering and felonious assault after police said she was bleeding her child - purposely taking blood from her - to get attention for herself.

Lewis was "removing blood from her child, thereby causing the child to suffer blood loss requiring multiple transfusions with attendant risk," Assistant Hamilton County Prosecutor Anne Flanagan noted in court documents.

Lewis insisted she'd committed no crime, especially against a child she dearly loves.

But Lewis pleaded guilty to felonious assault and two counts of child endangering last week in exchange for prosecutors dropping five other charges.

Doctors were on the verge of doing invasive surgery on the child, Flanagan said, when they caught Lewis committing the crimes.

Lewis' defense, though, is highly unusual, having been used in Hamilton County just four times in the past 20 years, prosecutors said.

Lewis claims she has a rare psychological disorder, Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy.

People with that syndrome fake physical symptoms or illnesses of their child, give false symptoms or even hurt or make children sick - often to get sympathy for or draw attention to the themselves.

"They appear to be extremely attentive mothers ... even though they know the whole time they are causing it," said Brian Masterson, a University of Cincinnati professor of clinical psychiatry.

About 1,200 new cases of Munchausen's are reported each year, Masterson said. About 95 percent are attributed to women and 90 percent to mothers.

Of those victimized by caretakers claiming Munchausen's Syndrome, 6 percent die.

"We do know people do this. Nobody has any idea why," said Masterson, a Madeira native.

Munchausen's by Proxy syndrome appears to have its roots, he added, in people wanting to be noticed.

When their child becomes ill and the issue can't be diagnosed, "they are surrounded by doctors and they get attention. That's why they do it," Masterson said.

The psychological gratification gained from that attention can lead some parents to attend medical symposiums and become very knowledgeable about their child's "illness."

They also, ironically, could be trying to remain close to their children or emulating past abuses.

"There is often a history of some trauma or abuse in which a person has equated sickness with being a mother," Masterson said.

"Other women are so attached to their children, they can't bear to separate from them. It's 'forever your baby' ... even if you're hurting them."

Authorities allege that from Aug. 9 through Sept. 2, Lewis removed blood from her child at Children's. Her daughter was getting transfusions, but the mother took the tubes out of the child's body.

Lewis - who has three other children, ages 7, 6, 3 - specifically is accused of removing the blood and placing some in the child's diapers and rectum to make it appear to doctors the child had internal bleeding. She eventually was discovered by hospital workers.

She also signed documents allowing her 9-month-old daughter to undergo medical procedures Lewis knew weren't necessary - colonoscopy, endoscopy, receiving morphine and other pain medication - as doctors searched for a reason to explain the child's illness.

Common Pleas Judge Melba Marsh ordered Lewis to undergo a mental evaluation in preparation for Lewis' July 23 sentencing. The judge can send Lewis to prison for up to 18 years or place her on probation.

The judge also denied Lewis' request to see her youngest child, the one she admitted assaulting.http://communitypress.cincinnati.com/article/AB/20090523/NEWS0107/905240362/Syndrome+used+as+defense+in+abuse+case

[Peeperann]

But Lewis pleaded guilty to felonious assault and two counts of child endangering last week in exchange for prosecutors dropping five other charges.

I knew it. I just knew it. Regardless of the sad face she put on (it was because she was caught, not worry about the baby). I hope she gets mental help and then gets the 18 years in prison.



Lewis claims she has a rare psychological disorder, Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy.

My daughter in law's mother has Munchausen's. Ryan and her do not ever allow her to be alone with my grandchildren, they stay in the same room with her and never let her leave to a different room. Thankfully she lives 7 hours from them, so it's pretty easy to control her access to them.

She had Kimmie in every hospital and drs office growing up, saying she had all these diseases and syndromes. Kimmie now understands what is wrong with her mother and is in complete agreement that Susan will never be allowed alone with the kids.

Thankfully she never actually hurt kimmie or her siblings, but they grew up thinking they had all these things wrong with them. And they are all healthy. To this day she will talk about all the things wrong with them and starts crying and getting upset when Ryan calls her on it.

It's very sad and scary how far these people will go to get attention. I hope she is never allowed access to her children again.

[Silvahalo]

Like initially said, "This one has my curiosity going...like to know more on the particulars of the babies health...any strange injuries?"....

Loss of blood is certainly a strange illness. She let her baby undergo unnecessary, painful procedures. What a callous bitch. I'm just so glad she was caught. Though it doesn't appear she'd kill her, her other children are alive so I'm thinking she pushes things enough to get attention but not kill them. Still you never know how things might have turned out. One thing I've learned by reading the stories her on DD is to never judge a book by its cover. Some of the most unlikely people are guilty while others who look like bad news turn out to be a hero.

Recover little Sophia.

[thehesbomb]

I was scrolling down...scrolling down to see whether anyone had already posted MBP and BAM - there it is. All the defenders and the injuries happening even when the baby was already in the hospital - classic Munchausen.

Scary shit.

ETA: That is what is so fucking dangerous about parents MBP. She had some of the most experienced posters on here almost immediately "in her corner" thinking that she could not have/would not have done it. They are smart, manipulative and very, very good at what they do.

[thehesbomb]

CINCINNATI, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- A judge in Hamilton County, Ohio, says a mother will spend the next eight years in prison for abusing her 8-month-old daughter.

Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Melba Marsh ordered Kellie Lewis to serve eight years in prison on felonious assault and child endangerment charges. The mother-of-four pleaded guilty in May, The Cincinnati Enquirer said Wednesday.

Doctors and police allege Lewis, 27, used syringes to withdraw blood from the infant and placed objects up the child's rectum.

Lewis was also accused of putting the child's blood inside the infant's diapers
, leading doctors to consider operating on the child to solve her seemingly failing health.

The infant has been recuperating in foster care since the arrest of her mother, an Indiana native.

The sentence comes after the judge rejected a defense request to have Lewis avoid prison time because she suffers from Munchausen's syndrome by proxy.

The Munchausen's defense request was based on expert testimony that individuals with the disorder have been known to injure their children to draw attention to themselves.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/08/27/Mother-headed-to-prison-for-infant-abuse/UPI-40761251404368/

[TheImperialCerealKiller]

Wow- thanks for the updates, y'all.
I was wondering about this bitch the other day and whatever happened with her (I missed the May updates), but I couldn't for the life of me remember her name or state.
Munchasen's, eh? And there I was feeling all sorry for this sad-faced nut.