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Jan 4, 2010

Scoop: Munchhausen Mom and her baby

I write this post with great trepidation and caution. I have no proof for what I am going to say, but my source is a very good one. I kept thinking to myself that this is not something I want to get involved in, it is not the job of a blogger to produce scoops, especially scoops with no proof.

There are some bloggers who have taken such responsibility upon themselves. they find the stories and expose them. It is easier to do when anonymous, as the personal ramifications are curbed to an extent, but even non-anonymously, it is easier to expose a scoop when you have the proof - the Tropper tapes made that story possible for being exposed by a blogger, for example.

I kept telling myself not to do it. But I kept seeing and hearing myself reading in the newspaper about the stories form over Shabbos about the guy on Shmuel HaNavi who killed his kid, and the 2 brothers from Bnei Ayish who killed a young boy, along with past cases such as the Burqa lady. People knew there was something wrong, in almost all the recent cases. They kept quiet because they didn't want to mix in and get involved. In the end it led, in some cases, to murder, in other cases it allowed serious abuse to continue for much longer after it could have been stopped. And then there are, inevitably, the calls blaming the community who knew but did nothing to stop it.

I kept saying to myself that I would not publish this information, but kept saying that if it leads to putting one of the other kids in danger or worse, how can I live with myself having withheld the information.

So here is the scoop. Again, I have no proof. The only thing I have is very reliable sources that have always been correct before with the information they gave me, and one of them has the information practically firsthand.

The Munchhausen Mom - she was accused of having put her child in Hadassah Ein Kerem in danger, turning off machines, not feeding the sick child, etc. Supposedly there is video of her in the act and is being used against her in the trial. The Munchhausen Mom gave birth to a preemie a short while ago - about 2 months if I am not mistaken. The child is in neonatal care in the Bikur Cholim Hospital.

It has come to my attention that the mother has been distanced from the hospital and is not allowed to see the baby. The hospital people (doctors? nurse? administrator?) have seen the mother, and have it on video, fiddling with the instruments that the baby is hooked up to. Adjusting the controls and the like. They consider her a danger, and will not allow her to see the kid.

They are not publicizing it because there main clientele is the Mea She'arim, Eida Haredis, community, and they are worried about the repercussions of making this information public. I am worried about keeping it secret, assuming it is true.

Take it with a grain of salt or not. I don't have any more information on this and I have no answers to any questions you might ask. I wrote everything I know on the subject. If one of the readers has information that can verify the above, or conclusively contradict it, please put it in the comments or contact me offline.

23 comments:

  1. It's not clear to me what information you're publishing that will further protect the child in question. If she is distanced, and you're publicizing it causes an uproar and possible subsequent court ordered visitation rights, how have you helped this child? If the Eidah stages a protest and the population in Meah Shearim refuses to bring their children for treatment there, how have you helped other children?

    sorry, it's not clear to me how this is a scoop or news that is at all helpful to publicize.

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  2. if she is dangerous, then she is dangerous to her other children as well. at least the strong possibility exists.

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  3. if she is dangerous, then she is dangerous to her other children as well.

    Well, duh. You wrote that she was already accused of putting another one of her children in the hospital, etc.

    I am still unclear as to the "scoop" aspect of your post. What are you adding - that she might be really really dangerous?

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  4. that she has been doing it again to another kid.
    have you seen that in the news? I havent? have the authorities been alerted? I have not seen any such reports. it would seal her case.

    BTW, the original source was a nurse in the hospital - I heard it from a reliable source she told it to

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  5. You got me all excited about nothing. You found something out that is already known to the relevant people. The only other children she is likely to harm (assuming that she suffers from Munchhausen's syndrome) is her own. A pretty limited group, and the hospital has probably already contacted the relevent authorities (who probably knew that they should keep an eye on her anyway.)

    About the role of bloggers in getting "scoops", don't forget that blogger Matt Drudge first broke the Monica Lewinsky story (another nice Jewish boy blogging about another nice Jewish girl). Soldier on!

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  6. yeah, it happens, but not so often. and the ones who look for the scoops specialize in that kind of blogging - not what I usually do, or what most [jbloggers do

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  7. The importance of what you are trying to accomplish is being over looked. The problem is not with the health of the baby in the NICU or the immediately family. They are already being monitored by all concerned.

    The problem is the people who are missing out (in some cases life saving treatment) because they are boycotting Haddasah. If your sources are right, the boycott should end and people should freely seek medical attention at Haddasah or any other medical facility that provides the treatment they require.

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  8. yes, that is another outcome of this, though I had not thought that far out. I was more concerned about her harming her other children, or other children in general

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  9. The relevant people know about this and the incident is being taken care of quietly and discretely, which should have been the case with the older boy. I was under the impression that the rest of the children had been smuggled out to England with their father.

    Another scandal is of no significance, though one would hope the Eidah would offer sincere apologies to the slandered doctors at Hadassah.

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  10. Rafi,

    You've really gone too far this time! You are playing with fire and I hope that noone gets burnt as a result.

    Publishing on BHH on the basis of hearsay may cause real and unnecessary damage to a family and will almost certainly get to the press with the chillul hashem that will result, and the story may not even be true.

    You really should have tried to get more information before publishing this (assuming publishing at all is halachically permissable).

    I do not buy the fact that you had no means to check out the story - Can you honestly say that you had the childrens' interest at heart? or maybe you wanted to get your 'scoop' before someone else heard the rumor?

    Your astute friend.

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  11. More power to you Rafi.

    Anyone who knows the mother knows that she is crazy and that she could do this to another kid. I know you and trust that your sources are authentic and trustworthy.

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  12. I had this information a full day before I published it. I really did not want to, and was not going to, but all night it bothered me, and I specifically kept thinking back to the news of the murders over shabbos.

    Believe me or not. I did not look for this scoop, and was hesitant at publishing it.

    ReplyDelete
  13. and no, I am still not sure I did the right thing. But at least I will not have to say ידינו לא שפכו את הדם הזה if it turns out to be correct. If chas vshalom something should happen, and everyone wonders why it was covered up and nobody spoke about it, I have a clear conscience. And I wrote it very carefully so no harm should come if it is false - I spelled out very clearly that I have no evidence and do not know that it is true - just a reliable source.

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  14. I am sorry Rafi, but waiting "a full day" before publication does not excuse this. We live in a small country and verifying this would not have been difficult if you really wanted.

    Astute

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  15. waiting the full day just shows I was not itching for the scoop.

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  16. and they keep having babies....

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  17. I don't understand the objections here.

    Isn't there a benefit to the Meah Shearim public's becoming aware that this woman is indeed a threat and that Haddassah Hospital is not their enemy?

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  18. haval that the hospitals are terrified of the chareidim. they have to realize that these people really don't have an alternative and there is no real need to fear them.

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  19. The lady is sick. That's a problem.

    Her community, which protested in her favor, and against the police and hospital, who were simply protecting the children...

    ...and the same community which came out again this week, after a father murdered his own baby, to demonstrate against the police and hospital...

    they are even sicker - and that's a MUCH bigger problem.

    That's the real story here, Rafi.
    Publish and be damned!

    ReplyDelete
  20. 4 the kids - minor correction: the case this week, they did not come out and protest on the fathers behalf. they protested against an autopsy. They have not come out in defense of the father at all. Actually, just the opposite - they have been saying the father is sick and has been on medication, and it is the communities fault for not intervening earlier.

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  21. Rafi: get some cahoonas and don't be so whimpy. You had good info from reliable sources. You could have made one or 2 calls to the hospital or police involved for a comment, and that would have frosted the story or killed it. Maybe investigative reporting is your true calling, and you should take a course in investigative journalism, since you already write so well, have been published, and have a wide following on the blogosphere.

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  22. I'll have to agree with the first comment here. I'm pretty much anti-charedi in most issues, but I can't see how publishing this now would help the situation. Can you imagine if certain anti-religious blogs publicized this and it turned out not to be true? It would be handing a massive weapon to the extremists, allowing the misery to continue for abused children in their communities. Of course, informing the relevant authorities (or making sure they know anyway) is totally justified. Was this done?

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  23. Lashon Hara,
    This is what is called slander,

    ReplyDelete

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