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In some cases, parents go to extreme lengths, pretending their child is suffering from a serious illness to gain attention or financial support. This behavior is identified as Munchausen syndrome by proxy.
These parents often take their child to numerous doctors, insisting on treatments for illnesses that do not exist. As a result, the children are subjected to unnecessary medications and medical procedures. Meanwhile, the parents receive admiration for their supposed dedication to their child and even collect money from well-meaning individuals.
10. Jessica Good
Jessica Good spent several years pretending that her youngest daughter was battling cancer. She began this deceit when her daughter was just a few months old, quickly convincing her family that the child was terminally ill.
Good fabricated numerous health problems for her daughter, claiming she had lymphoma, seizures, a nut allergy, and cerebral palsy. She also asserted that the child was on the heart transplant waiting list.
Good organized multiple fundraisers and set up GoFundMe accounts, asking her community to donate money. People eagerly contributed to help the supposedly ill child. A golf event raised $12,000, a local photography studio collected $3,100, and the family’s church donated over $5,000. Additionally, Good tricked the Department of Human Services into providing more than $45,000 in state aid.
After years of raising money, suspicions began to surface. The girl never lost her hair, and appeared to be in good health. Good’s church alerted the authorities about potential fraud. Police investigated and spoke with the girl’s doctors, who found no proof of any of the illnesses Good had claimed.
Good was arrested and admitted her guilt. She was ultimately sentenced to three years in prison, 20 years of probation, and ordered to repay $69,565 in restitution.
9. Teresa Milbrandt
Teresa Milbrandt claimed that her seven-year-old daughter, Hannah, was battling leukemia. To support the lie, Teresa shaved Hannah's hair, made her wear a protective mask, and even enrolled her in counseling to prepare her for death. Teresa would tell Hannah they were going to the hospital for treatment, then give her a sleeping pill and claim that treatment had been administered while she slept.
This deception convinced 65 people and businesses to donate approximately $31,000 to the Milbrandts. However, after nine months, staff at Hannah’s school noticed her hair wasn't falling out as expected. Instead, it appeared to have been cut or shaved. The school reported the situation to family services, who then contacted the police.
Teresa eventually admitted to the lie, explaining that she fabricated the story to prevent her husband from leaving. “I knew how much he cared about Hannah, and if she’s sick, I thought, he’s not going to leave us. I just said she had cancer, and next thing I know, people were giving me money,” Teresa confessed.
Teresa was sentenced to 6.5 years in prison. Her husband, Robert, insisted he was unaware that the diagnosis was fabricated. Nonetheless, he was also sentenced to four years and 11 months in prison. Additionally, the couple was ordered to repay $34,400 in restitution.
Hannah was placed in foster care following the deception. Her mother's actions caused profound emotional trauma, leading to severe mental health struggles. As a teenager, she attempted suicide multiple times before seeking help for her depression. Thankfully, her mental health has greatly improved since then.
8. Wendi Michelle Scott
Wendi Michelle Scott faked having cancer on two separate occasions. She would shave her head and eyebrows and rely on a wheelchair or walker to move around. After becoming a mother, she ended the charade about herself and redirected her deception toward her young daughter.
Scott poisoned her daughter with magnesium and used syringes to extract the girl's blood. On at least three occasions, the child's blood volume dropped dangerously low—twice falling to half of the normal level. As a result, she required transfusions to save her life. Scott's actions also led to severe diarrhea, blood loss, vomiting, high fever, and a rapid heart rate for her daughter.
Over the course of three years of both inpatient and outpatient treatments, the child underwent 72 unnecessary procedures. When doctors found her magnesium levels to be dangerously high, they suspected poisoning. They alerted child services, who then confronted Scott. She confessed and pleaded guilty. Scott was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
After being removed from her mother's care, the child began to improve. She gained weight and started behaving like a typical child. Sadly, the girl still faces an increased risk of cancer due to repeated radiological tests and will always carry scars from numerous surgeries.
7. Elisabeth Hunnicutt
Elisabeth Hunnicutt's five-month-old son developed a flat spot on his head and had neck spasms. She told her husband that the boy had agenesis of the corpus callosum, a brain defect, and cerebral atrophy, a brain condition.
Hunnicutt began administering clonidine—her older son’s autism medication—to her infant to replicate the symptoms of hydrocephalus (water on the brain). She informed doctors that her younger son was highly unresponsive and slept most of the day. Doctors drilled into his skull and inserted a monitor on his brain but found no fluid.
Hunnicutt’s mother-in-law caught her feeding the sick child yogurt containing a blue pill, and she reported it to her son. The husband confronted Hunnicutt, and she admitted to giving the boy her older son’s autism medicine.
The husband contacted the police, and Hunnicutt was arrested. She pled guilty and was sentenced to 10 years of probation. She also gave up her parental rights to her two sons.
After being separated from his mother, the boy, who had previously been sleeping for 20 hours a day, relying on a gastric feeding tube, and taking 10–20 medications, quickly became a healthy, active two-year-old within just two weeks.
6. Katelyn Christina Carnline
Katelyn Carnline deceived others into believing her five-year-old son had cancer. She shaved his head and shared pictures of him wearing a breathing mask. Compassionate individuals donated $2,000 to help cover the boy's supposed medical expenses.
Once exposed as a fraud, Carnline shifted her focus to her infant daughter. She began deliberately starving the newborn to make her appear ill, claiming that the child had a rare genetic disorder called inborn errors of metabolism. She set up a fundraising page and received $150 in donations.
Carnline took her infant to the hospital, claiming that the girl was suffering from seizures. Doctors noticed the baby’s dangerously low weight, and she was admitted to the hospital for several days. Carnline was in charge of feeding her, but the infant did not gain any weight. Eventually, doctors inserted a feeding tube into the baby’s stomach before discharging her.
A few months later, Carnline returned to the hospital with the baby. The child was still severely underweight. Doctors kept her under observation for several more days. They realized the girl had never had a seizure and that she had gained a significant amount of weight.
The doctors informed CPS, who then contacted the police. Carnline was arrested, and her children were placed with relatives.
5. Monika Burgett
Monika Burgett’s son, Jackson, was born prematurely at just 25 weeks, weighing only 0.91 kilograms (2 lbs), with his eyes still shut. He spent three months in the neonatal intensive care unit and was diagnosed with neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder that can lead to the development of benign tumors.
Monika fabricated her son’s condition, claiming he had brain cancer and telling a neighbor that doctors were uncertain whether he would survive the night. She shaved Jackson’s head and eyebrows, inserted tubes into his nose, and shared his photo on GoFundMe, raising $40,000.
Monika then took Jackson to the hospital, claiming he was in pain and struggling with feeding and breathing. As a result, the hospital provided him with unnecessary oxygen, feeding tubes, and opioids.
Having impersonated a doctor for over ten years, Monika successfully deceived the medical staff. She managed to integrate herself into the healthcare team and persuaded doctors to perform two brain surgeries on Jackson.
Eventually, doctors grew suspicious of Monika’s false claims and reported her to family services. She was arrested, and Jackson was placed in his father’s custody. The boy rapidly recovered from his mother’s mistreatment and no longer required pain medication.
4. Emily Creno-King
Emily Creno-King told everyone that her four-year-old son, John (also known as JJ), was battling a rare type of cancer. She shaved his head and had him wear a mask when they went out in public. Emily took him to the hospital, where JJ underwent over 20 blood tests and six radiographic exams. He spent approximately 150 hours over four months in the hospital for EEG monitoring, and was prescribed seizure medication based on his mother's assertions.
A mother whose child had leukemia began to notice inconsistencies in JJ’s story. She contacted the authorities, who eventually discovered that Emily had fabricated JJ’s illness. Emily admitted to making up the disease in an attempt to save her marriage. She was sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay $3,000 in restitution.
3. Dee Dee Blanchard
When Dee Dee Blanchard’s infant daughter, Gypsy Rose, was just three months old, Dee Dee told doctors that her baby was struggling to breathe properly. As a result, Gypsy was diagnosed with sleep apnea and was given a breathing machine.
At the age of seven, Gypsy’s mother, Dee Dee, informed the family that Gypsy had a chromosomal disorder and would need to use a wheelchair. Over time, Gypsy developed more health problems, including extreme weight loss that required a feeding tube. She was diagnosed with epilepsy and given medication that caused her teeth to fall out. Dee Dee also claimed that Gypsy had limited cognitive abilities and decided to homeschool her daughter after second grade.
Dee Dee exploited Gypsy's health issues to gain benefits. They appeared on local news programs, received free trips to Disney World, received a $6,000 donation from country music star Miranda Lambert, and were helped by Habitat for Humanity in obtaining a home.
As Gypsy entered her twenties, she began to feel isolated. She joined a dating website and met Nicholas Godejohn. Nicholas insisted on meeting in person, and Gypsy eventually agreed.
Gypsy, accompanied by her mother, went to the movies, where she met Nicholas and pretended they were strangers. The couple secretly snuck away to the bathroom, where they consummated their relationship. Afterward, Gypsy’s mother became enraged and forbade her from seeing Nicholas again.
As Dee Dee continued to mistreat her daughter, Gypsy asked Nicholas, 'Would you kill my mother for me?' She handed him gloves and a knife, and he fatally stabbed Dee Dee. The two then fled to Nicholas’s parents' house.
Authorities traced the IP address and Gypsy eventually admitted to the crime. Upon arriving at jail, she was taken to the infirmary where doctors evaluated her health and declared her fit, with no evidence of the illnesses she had claimed.
Gypsy pled guilty to second-degree murder. Due to the years of abuse she had suffered, the court showed leniency and sentenced her to the minimum 10 years in prison.
2. Hope Ybarra
Hope Ybarra informed her loved ones that she had been diagnosed with bone cancer, which she claimed had spread to her brain and lungs, affecting her hearing. She even learned sign language and received a cochlear implant. Ybarra moved to Alabama for eight months for specialized treatment she said was unavailable elsewhere.
After the birth of her second child, Ybarra told her family that the baby had cerebral palsy and required ankle braces for over a year. Miraculously, the child was ‘cured’ of the condition around the time her sister was born.
Ybarra's third child was born prematurely, spending months in the neonatal intensive care unit. Once the baby recovered, Ybarra diluted her formula to ensure the child did not gain weight.
Ybarra insisted her daughter be tested for cystic fibrosis. To interfere with the results, she used a nasal spray under the child’s bandage, causing the test to come back positive due to elevated sodium levels.
As a chemist, Ybarra stole pathogens from her workplace and poisoned her daughter with them. The child went into anaphylactic shock, prompting medical staff to insert a central line for easier access to her blood. Ybarra then used a syringe to remove and discard her daughter’s blood, leading to episodes of anemia.
For four years, Ybarra subjected her daughter to repeated suffering, forcing her through 30 to 40 unnecessary medical procedures. To everyone around her, Ybarra appeared as a devoted, courageous, and selfless mother.
Hope Ybarra's doctor requested her cancer records from her father, but they couldn’t be found. He then asked Ybarra’s husband, who also couldn’t locate any medical documentation of her illness. Confronted by her father, Hope confessed to fabricating her cancer, admitting, “It’s the only time [her husband] pays any attention to me.”
Suspicious about his granddaughter’s health, Hope’s father asked CPS to conduct another round of sweat tests. The results were negative. As a result, Hope was banned from seeing her children and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Her daughter, however, began to flourish and was declared completely healthy.
1. Leatha Kaye Slauson
Leatha Slauson falsely claimed that her five-year-old daughter was suffering from cancer. To support her story, Slauson administered cannabis oil and Neupogen, a drug typically used for cancer, which caused the girl to experience severe cramps and joint pain. The mother also inserted a feeding tube into her daughter's nose and stomach.
The local community responded by coming together to support the sick child. Slauson raised around $30,000 from kind-hearted people and was even gifted a trip to Disney World, where her daughter was honored as an honorary fireman.
When school officials started looking into the special care the girl would require, the school nurse became suspicious due to the absence of any documentation confirming the cancer diagnosis. The nurse alerted the authorities, and Slauson eventually confessed that her daughter had never been diagnosed with cancer.
Slauson admitted to fabricating her daughter’s terminal cancer diagnosis to gain donations. She pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to five years of probation, along with mandatory mental health treatment. Additionally, she was prohibited from having any contact with her children.
