Emily McDonald Gets 20 Yrs for Smearing Feces on Daughter's IV

Mom gets 20 years for smearing feces on daughter’s catheter

By Steven Kreytak | Monday, April 4, 2011, 04:44 PM


A woman who police say was captured on video smearing feces on her 3-year-old daughter’s catheter pleaded guilty to injury to a child today and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

State District Judge Julie Kocurek sentenced Emily Beth McDonald, 25, under the terms of a plea bargain that McDonald, pictured below right, reached with prosecutors.


McDonald, who cried briefly during a short hearing, did not say anything before she was taken into custody by sheriff’s deputies.

Outside court her lawyer, Bob Phillips, attempted to explain her behavior. Phillips said McDonald was “under extreme psychological stress” at the time of her crime, stress he said was brought on by factors including fatigue and depression.

Read more:
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/courts/entries/2011/04/04/mom_gets_25_years_for_smearing.html?cxntcid=breaking_news?cxntlid=cmg_cntnt_rss

Cops: Mom put feces in tot's IV
Mom's blog: Time in hospital 'frustrating'

Updated: Thursday, 04 Jun 2009, 2:38 PM CDT
Published : Wednesday, 03 Jun 2009, 10:15 AM CDT

Blair Shiff
AUSTIN (KXAN) - An Austin woman is charged with injury to a child after a hospital-surveillance video caught her putting feces into her 3-year-old child's Central Ventricular line cap.

Emily McDonald, 23, of Manor "admitted she knew her actions would result in her daughter's prolonged illness," said Lt. Jeff Hampton of the Austin Police Department's Child Abuse Unit.

The charge is a first-degree felony punishable by life in prison.

Dell Children's Hospital admitted the little girl on April 15 with high fever and a long history of chronic diarrhea. During her stay, the hospital staff became suspicious of McDonald.

The little girl was being treated for serious infections caused by unusual organisms which can be found in feces, and the hospital was unsure how she was getting these infections during her hospital stay. So staff decided to place a surveillance camera inside the child's room

Cops: Mom put feces in tot's IV : kxan.com

Read more:
http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/crime/Mom_feeds_child_feces

This "mother" of three so enjoyed all of the attention she received from blogging about her child's medical issues that was born a preemie. Then the third child was born and she went to great lengths to keep this baby sick for 2.5 yrs for sympathy and attention for herself. It looks like she had many followers of mother's with sick children and they were obviously shocked and disgusted when she was found out in 2009. It's a miracle this little girl is alive. It's difficult for me to imagine what this child went through and what was going through this woman's head. All for a blog, McDonald Five, which she wrote on a daily basis. To read this and know the mother caused it just to write about it and have "friends" is just beyond belief. They have removed the baby's name to protect her identity.

Excerpts from McDonald five blog


Emily McDonald is accused of injuring her child

Updated: Wednesday, 03 Jun 2009, 3:08 PM CDT
Published : Wednesday, 03 Jun 2009, 3:08 PM CDT

MANOR, Texas - Here are excerpts from Emily McDonald's blog about her children and their medical issues. The blog is no longer publically accessed.

May 28, 2009; 9:22 p.m.


The last few days have been frustrating. It's one thing to spend 8mos in the NICU after your child's born but it's 10x worse having to revert back to that lifestyle after having your child home for 2.5yrs. I have certain expectations of the doctors caring for [my daughter], mainly that I'm consulted or at least informed before changes are made. I've felt very out of the loop this week with the discussions taking place about the broviac, possible discharge in the future and her over all care. My gut instinct when I come in and hear that X has been changed without the doctors talking to me, is to invoke my veto power and say, "no, I won't let it happen". Obviously this doesn't sit well with them and so everyone ends up irritated.

Today I got to talk with the doctor and nurse practitioner and I think we're all on the same page. I haven't disagreed with anything they've done necessarily, it's just the lack of communication that is going to drive me insane. [my daughter's] looking great. She spent a good 45min walking laps around the unit this morning. But in spite of how she looks it seems the general consensus is that she should stay here for the remainder of her antibiotic treatment (2-4wks longer). My understanding is that ID is the one pushing for her to stay since she's "too complicated" and "unpredictable" to be at home. Dissapointed doesn't even begin to describe how I felt hearing that. I feel a little mislead in some ways because never has anyone mentioned having us stay for the duration of treatment. Admittedly people have also not said anything specifically about sending us home but it's been implied. If they want us to stay then that's what we need to do but it's a hard pill for me to swallow when [my daughter] asks on a regular basis to go home.

I'm hopeful that communication will be improved from here on out, even if it's just a quick 2min conversation telling me what's going to happen that day. Yesterday's renal ultrasound showed her kidneys a bit better. Her labwork today looked pretty good as well. All signs that point towards her infection being well controlled. Monday she has another doppler to look at her clot. The attending doesn't seem too hopeful that it will have changed for the better but I'm still praying it's at least a bit smaller.

Day 50, 2:23 p.m.


Everything went great with [my daughter's] surgery. The Broviac is in, the IJ is out and they did a bandaidectomy while they were in the OR. She's yet to notice that anything is missing from her arms and legs and I'm not about to point it out. Everyone in the recovery room was happy to see her back and looking so great. We were back in our room within 2hrs of leaving and she was ready to get on the floor as soon as we got back. I'm so thrilled to have this done and behind us so we can focus on what needs to be done to get her home.

Kindergarten Party! 12:25 p.m.


This morning [my other daughter] had her end of the year party at school. I managed to hit the party for a short while before coming back to the hospital to talk to the surgeon and anesthesiologist and sign consent forms. [My other daughter] has had a great year. She's such a sweet little girl and I get nothing but compliments about her from the teachers and other parents.


With me staying at the hospital I haven't been able to spend as much time with the other kids as I would like. [My son] doesn't do so well up here in a teeny tiny room with nothing to do but [my other daughter] on the other hand is a bit more mature and can handle it. She spent the night with me last Friday and we got to have some fun together. We went to Starbucks for breakfast and sat and visited together. She was a bit upset that I refused to buy her coffee but apparently they have good apple juice. It's hard to believe that she's already done with Kindergarten.


Tomorrow, 7:22 p.m.


[My daughter's] having her surgery tomorrow at noon to place her Broviac! In no way does that mean we're headed out the door but it does make discharge possible at some point in the future.

This week has been very calm (which is good). [My daughter's] doing a lot of hard work with her therapists and spending the rest of her time sleeping and playing.

Her labs from this morning looked much improved over Sunday's labs. Tomorrow she's due to have another abdominal ultrasound (hoping they'll do this before waking her up from surgery). They noticed some abnormal changes in her kidneys on last week's abdominal ultrasound but hopefully everything's back to normal tomorrow.


May 26, 11:26 p.m.


Obviously I'm not driving much these days. My car is a fairly permanent fixture in the parking lot at the front of the hospital. We're saving quite a bit of money on gas to put a positive spin on being in the hospital for almost 50 days (yep, midnight will be day 49 with no end in sight). Back to my story. I haven't driven the car since Saturday when I took [my other daughter] back home after spending the previous night with me here at the hospital. I completely, unintentionally left an unopened can of Dr. Pepper (my addiction) in the front seat of my car....

Tonight I hopped in my car to drive to the Thai restaurant next to the hospital (yes, I could have walked but am lazy). Let's just say the temperature here right now is probably very close to 100 degrees in my car during the day. Does anyone want to guess what happens when a Dr. Pepper can is left in that type of heat all day for three days? Not a pretty thing to see. I have a lot of cleaning up to do in my car. Such a sticky mess. Let this be your lesson, never leave an unopened can of any type of carbonated beverage in your car during the summer.

Read more:

http://www.kxan.com/dpp/mobile/Excerpts_from_McDonald_five_blog

Another story on Emily McDonald's background. She also posted Youtube videos, I'm not sure if they are still up. From what I've read, the little girl is doing great and lives with her father.



Accused mom was active in preemie issue

Portrait emerges of mom accused of poisoning IV

Accused mom was active in preemie issue: kxan.com

Updated: Tuesday, 09 Jun 2009, 11:30 AM CDT
Published : Friday, 05 Jun 2009, 4:03 PM CDT

KXAN (Austin) - Friends and acquaintances of Emily McDonald describe the young mother as a leader in the preemie community before she faced charges of smearing feces on her child's IV, causing the girl to stay sick.

In the two days since a hospital surveillance camera caught her actions and police say she confessed, McDonald has been telling friends the media has it wrong.

"If you only knew what they do with stories like this," McDonald said in an online conversation with an acquaintance.

McDonald is accused of injury to a child, a felony punishable by life in prison, after hospital surveillance cameras put caught her wiping feces on her 3-year-old daughter's IV in Dell Children's Hospital.

Police say she knew that what she was doing would prolong her daughter's hospital stay - prompting theories by some in the medical community that she may have been sickening her daughter to gain attention for herself, a syndome known as Munchausen by proxy.

http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/crime/Friends_of_mom_accused_of_poisoning_tot_speak

Sad, really sad.

I will never understand wanting attention so bad that you make your child ill.
I have a family member that we always thought had Munchausen. Never was proven, but her kids were always sick and having to be in the hospital for different illnesses and seemingly unneccesary surgeries. Oddly enough, she found doctors who were more than happy to believe what she told them.
She seemed at her happiest when all attention was on her...

Sick, sick people. I'm glad Emily McDonald got caught and this poor little girl is living with her father and can move forward.