Jennifer Mothershead Arrested For Bleaching Toddler's Eyes

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Pierce County prosecutors have charged a 29-year-old Buckley mother with assault, alleging she repeatedly put bleach into her toddler’s eyes and caused permanent vision loss in the right eye.

Pierce County sheriff’s deputies arrested Jennifer Mothershead on Friday after nearly a yearlong investigation.
[...]

The 14-month-old girl was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle last May after she sustained a serious head injury. The girl also had an eye infection that was concerning.
[...]

Mothershead told a sheriff’s detective she was unemployed and caring for her daughter full time. She didn’t provide an explanation for her daughter’s head injury and, according to the detective, didn’t show any emotion about her daughter’s injuries.

Regarding the eye infection, Mothershead told the detective her daughter started to have an eye issue in March after she’d been playing in a barn. She got a corneal abrasion, the mother claimed.

Mothershead said the girl received antibiotics and eye drops. She said her daughter’s eyes had been swollen shut for about four weeks and she slept for 20 to 22 hours a day because of the discomfort.

Mothershead claimed her daughter needed to be swaddled when she administered the eye drops because the girl was a fighter.

The detectives placed the girl into state protective custody. Mothershead had brought the eye drops to the hospital and told detectives she needed to give the girl the medication before she left.

“She was told that detectives would ensure that proper medications would be administered and she became emotional and slightly argumentative,” court documents state.

A hospital staff member later opened the eye drops and noticed a foul odor. The scent caused mild nausea and burning eyes to the staff.

Detectives noticed it as well.

Investigators sent the drops to the Food and Drug Administration’s Forensic Chemistry Lab for analysis. The lab determined the drops contained bleach.

“The staff at Harborview determined that the damage to the child’s eyes was consistent with repeated exposure to bleach, and ruled out any possibility that the eye dropper had been merely cleaned with bleach,” the Prosecutor’s Office reported.
[...]

The girl now lives with her father.

Mothershead has another child who is the subject of a dependency hearing.

http://blog.thenewstribune.com/crime...aughters-eyes/

[HeatherHabilatory]

Oh, I would LOVE to know what excuse this pathetic excuse for a mother has for putting BLEACH in her baby's eye. Of course she's going to struggle when you're pouring bleach in her face!

[Tundratot]

OMG! What a f***ing bitch!! How sadistic and rotten can a mother be? I guess this woman about epitomizes it.

[Robynne]

The only thing I could think of is that mom wanted SSI or something for baby girl. Or she was trying to get back at dad for something.

[VAS1326]

Oh sweet baby Jesus. What the Hell possesses people to do shit like this? Was the entire story about an eye infection made up? Or did the girl have a legit eye infection and her crazy ass mom doctored the medicine. I wonder if it's Munchhausen (sp) I mean it takes a lot of crazy to try to insist on giving the girl any kind of medicine while in the hospital (usually they don't make you bring yours from home since they have a pharmacy in the hospital) however; even if it is your own they have to administer it while you are in their care. They way she got combative makes me think she was desperate to keep inflicting the harm. Munchausen parents are known to continue to harm their children even while they are hospitalized. That's why so many hospitals install camera's in the baby/children's rooms these days. Maybe mom liked the child always having these eye problems and eventually when the child went blind she could use that for sympathy (and benefits) too. Or maybe she was hoping the horrible "eye infection" would spread to her brain and kill her and she would get sympathy there too. FUCK THIS BITCH. I'm so pissed I want to pour 5 gallons of bleach in this bitches eyes. I can't stand parents who are this heartless and plain CRUEL.

I wonder why her other child has a dependency hearing. In Washington it appears that is the states process of removing a child from the home. Was he/she also harmed by the mother and if so how? And why on God's green Earth was she allowed to keep her daughter? This is just too fucked up for me to fathom. It had to burn each time she put the drops in. I can't stand when I get a little shampoo in my eye. Then to do it so often it caused an infection and blindness. She permantly fucked this child's vision up for what?? It's permanent. And how does she get away with not explaining a head injury??? What no bathtub, park, fell off the couch excuses? Maybe the slow blinding of her daugther didn't get her enough attention and she was trying to speed up the process. Holy crap this bitch is just sick and fucking nuts. I'm glad they figured it out prior to it getting worse and the child dying.

[VAS1326]

Fuckity fuck fuck.

She took the medicine to the hospital and put it in a fridge or something. The nurse staff moved it to the lab. I'm guessing she was trying to get the drops back.

Here is what gets me:

When hospital staff later opened the medications for K.M. that the defendant brought in, theynoted that a “noxious odor filled the room, burning eyes, causing mild nausea for staff.”

When a detective later opened the container of eye drops, she noted that a strong chemical odoremanated from the bottle, and that her eyes began watering. She closed the bottle. A short time later, theportion of the detective’s skin that had been exposed between her latex glove and shirt sleeve was red andhad a burning sensation. This ceased several minutes later. The eye drops were submitted to an FDAForensic Chemistry Center, where it was determined that bleach was present in the eye drops.

If it affected the staff that way imagine what it did to that little girl!

Okay I'm goin to link to the document I am reading because it's too much to quote and probably better if you read it for yourself.

Also it appears that mom used the eye infection as an excuse for dad not to see the little girl regularly because only she could give he the medication and wouldn't allow him too. It appears mom and dad are married but seperated (maybe she did do this to hurt the dad but it still sounds like Munchausins to me)

Oh my goodness......The barn story was pure bullshit. She didn't have a corneal abrasion she had bleach in her eyes.

Dr. Weiss from Children’s Hospital in Seattle told Detective Anderson that the FDA findings regarding bleach were consistent with the type of injury and damage to K.M.’s eyes, and that the initial diagnosis of a corneal abrasion was not correct

Here is some good & bad news:

Dr. Weiss noted that K.M.’s condition immediately improved when she was removed from her mother’s care

Now the bad:

It was Dr. Weiss’ opinion that the vision K.M.’svision “may never be normal” and that the vision loss in her right eye was permanent and it would beyears before long term damage could be fully assessed

At least this indicates that things were going better for K.M. This happened almost a year ago (May 12th) and I wonder how she is doing now. Lots of love and happiness vibes being sent to this little girl who sufferred so much. May God Grace her to fly high and do great things even with whatever long term struggles she may face. My prayers are with her.

Link to charging documents I quoted: http://www.scribd.com/doc/91888301/J...ging-Docs-Cont

[Silvahalo]

Mothershead has another child who is the subject of a dependency hearing.

So this is moot point? no?

Jennifer Mothershead. A name with mother in it. aw, now that just ain't right.

I hate bleach. I only use green products in my home, natural based. I cannot fucking strand the smell of bleach much less have it put in my eye.
Sweet jesus help me IF I see this woman I will beat her ass an inch from her life. The final insult bleach to the eye's washed with an OCD feverish zeal.

I pray and hope little one recovers best as possible leads a happy life.

[VAS1326]

@Silvahalo

So this is moot point? no?

Well it could be moot but I think that the state still has to follow the proper procedures. What I take that to mean is she has another child that has already been taken away and they are in the process of terminating her rights to that child. I looked it up but it's way to much legal talk to coherently put here so I'm pretty much summing it up for you.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Perhaps she is so stupid that she thought the "eye bleach" mentioned on the internet was something real?

I hope she hears about "brain bleach" and tries to drive this nightmare out of her head.

[Starbuck]

Perhaps she is so stupid that she thought the "eye bleach" mentioned on the internet was something real?

I hope she hears about "brain bleach" and tries to drive this nightmare out of her head.

Great Idea. I'd just pluck her eyes out myself and be done with it.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Seattle doctors who may have been slow to report abuse in a toddler whose mother allegedly put bleach in the child’s eyes -- nearly blinding her -- are under state investigation.

Officials at the Washington state Medical Quality Assurance Commission have filed a complaint and launched an inquiry into the care of the girl, now 2, at Seattle Children’s Hospital, a spokesman confirmed.

The girl, identified only as K.L.M., was treated for nearly two months for severe eye injuries in spring 2011, but only reported as a possible abuse victim after suffering a head injury that sent her to a trauma center.

Her mother, Jennifer Lynn Mothershead, 29, of Buckley, Wash., has been charged with first-degree child abuse linked to allegations that she substituted bleach in the child's medical eye drops and administered them repeatedly.

Internal commission staffers launched the probe this month after media coverage of the incident, said Donn Moyer, a state health department spokesman.
[...]

Last month, msnbc.com reported that Dr. Avery H. Weiss, an ophthalmologist with the Roger Johnson Clinical Vision Laboratory at the hospital, said he suspected child abuse early in the weeks of treatment for unexplained eye damage and infections in March and April 2011.

“That’s why I put her in the hospital,” Weiss told msnbc.com in an April interview. He explained that the girl would improve under supervised care and then worsen when she returned to her mother.

But, he added, he wanted to make sure he was correct before alleging intentional harm.

“Before I say child abuse, I want incontrovertible evidence,” said Weiss, who specializes in treating children who have eye damage caused by shaken baby syndrome and other abuse.

By law, medical practitioners in Washington state are required to report child abuse or neglect “at the first opportunity,” or no later than 48 hours after there is “reasonable cause” to believe a child has been harmed. Failure to report child abuse is classified as a gross misdemeanor punishable by jail time or a fine, state statutes show.

But it wasn’t until May 12, 2011, that Weiss said he became certain. That day, the 14-month-old was flown to a nearby trauma center, Harborview Medical Center, with a subdural hematoma, or brain hemorrhage.

“That prompted the report,” he said.
[...]

“Of course we felt guilty,” Weiss told msnbc.com in the previous interview. “We knew from very early on that she had this. But we were reluctant to implicate the mother until we were 100 percent sure.”

Weiss recounted the case in an article in an April issue of a medical journal, where he acknowledged that medical staffers may have missed signs that the girl was being abused.

“After failing to respond to standard therapy, she was eventually identified as a victim of abuse,” Weiss and his co-authors wrote. “We discuss key findings that could have provoked earlier recognition.”

He said he wrote the report as a warning to other ophthalmologists that a chronic or unusual eye infection actually may be a sign of child abuse.

It’s not clear how long the investigation by the medical commission may take, said Moyer, the state health department spokesman.

Jennifer Mothershead remains lodged in the Pierce County jail, records showed. A second child born to her last August was placed in protective custody.

The toddler's father, Cody Mothershead, has custody of the child. The girl is expected to have permanent damage, including severe visual impairment, though not actual blindness.

"This child isn't going to be normal for the rest of her life," Weiss told msnbc.com.

Cody Mothershead is also a mandatory reporter because he’s a math teacher at White River High School in Buckley. But reports indicate that he saw the child infrequently, for only a few hours every week to 10 days, and that Jennifer Mothershead prevented him from giving the girl her eye drops.

Weiss said he believed that Cody Mothershead didn’t realize the girl was being abused.

Administrators in the White River School District apparently agree. On Thursday, district superintendent Tom Lockyer confirmed that Cody Mothershead remains in the classroom.

http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/20...d-toddler?lite