Mum made daughter fake leukaemia to scam cash
She had her head shaved, was fed tablets, wore bandages and a surgical mask, yet she wasn’t sick.
It's the fake routine Hannah Milbrandt’s mother, Teresa, put her daughter up to in order to make some cash, and also included attending counselling.
Hannah’s community in a small town in Ohio, US was scammed out of over $41,000 by her mother after they were told she had cancer, but she didn’t.
‘Million dollar baby’ was what Teresa used to call Hannah and now almost 15 years later, that name has a lot more meaning behind it.
Now 21-years-old, Hannah still remembers everything clearly including having to shave her head, going to death counselling, taking sleeping pills and wearing bandages and a surgical mask to make it seem as though she had leukaemia.
“If I ever spoke to her again, I’d ask her why. I’d say it was the financial situation because she was always worried about money, always wanting to have more money than what we had. That’s probably the culprit of what a lot of it was,” Hannah said.
Teresa’s scam came to light after Hannah’s teacher raised the alarm when she noticed her hair was growing back and she wasn’t acting as ill as her mother made her out to be.
In 2003, Teresa was sentenced to six-and-a-half years jail.
Her husband was sentenced to four years and 11 months, despite Hannah maintaining she believes her father had no knowledge of the scam.
It’s believed Hannah’s mother’s case was one of Malingering by Proxy – medical abuse sparked by financial or tangible means.
Documented cases of Munchausen by proxy disorder stand at 136 a year in America and around 15 to 24 cases in Australia.
Dr Feldman, a psychiatrist and expert in the field, insists that the small number of documented cases is a reflection of the syndrome being “under recognised”, the majority of cases never brought to light.
For Malingering by Proxy survivors, the lasting impact of abuse shows up in self-harm scars, health problems and mental trauma, but the abuse may start with something as simple as their mother pinching their arm.
Newsbreak – May 26
