Elizabeth Malone, 29, admitted to injecting her blood through the boy’s nose and mouth because she wanted him to get attention from medics. She was caught on CCTV after staff at the hospital in Fairfax County, Virginia, installed a camera in the boy’s room. Footage shows her injecting her blood into her son and placing a stuffed toy closer to him before staff rushed in to treat the youngster.
While interviewed by police she denied any wrongdoing but then broke down in tears when detectives said she had been caught on video. She said: “I don’t want to intentionally cause him harm. I know I did, I know I did. Punish me but please let me see my children again.” Doctors were baffled when the youngster, who cannot speak because of his disability, was not getting better while in intensive care.
They said at the time the boy could have died if he had not been treated properly. Prosecutors told the court that the injections left the child with high fevers from infections. But staff became suspicious after a nurse spotted a syringe in the mother’s shirt sleeve and a bloodstained napkin in the toilet. Before the incident was caught on video, hospital staff had already contacted child protective services because they feared the boy was being intentionally harmed.
The boy had been hospitalized seven times in two months for unexplained bleeding. Malone often disagreed with his treatment but liked the response, a court heard. Her solicitor said she injected her son with her own blood to recreate the symptoms but she did not intend to harm the boy. Malone admitted to poisoning her son and pleaded guilty to a charge of child abuse on Wednesday. Her attorney told the judge: “She denies any intention to harm her child. She loves her child like any mother.”