According to the statement, the 27-year-old mother, Jessica, reportedly subjected her 3-year-old daughter to medical child abuse and lied to medical staff in an alleged case of Munchausen syndrome by proxy.
Officials said that the mother reportedly had many unnecessary medical procedures performed on her daughter for an unknown amount of time. She was taken into custody on suspicion of injury to a child, according to reports.
Prosecutors said the 27-year-old woman reportedly falsified her 3-year-old daughter’s condition to medical providers, causing them to draw the child’s blood 28 times, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by WFFA.
An investigation into Jessica’s alleged abuse began few months ago, when a doctor with the Children’s Hospital told authorities about suspected medical child abuse after learning Jessica had been seeing multiple doctors for her child at about a dozen medical facilities in three different states. The medical professionals reportedly accused Jessica of doctor shopping.
During one hospital visit in March, the 3-year-old was given a feeding tube after Jessica allegedly told medical staff that her child was not eating and losing weight, despite providing the girl with a sufficient amount of calories, the affidavit states. However, doctors became suspicious of Jessica because the child was still not gaining weight after some time. According to the affidavit, the mother also claimed her daughter had Ketotic Hypoglycemia, a blood sugar illness. In another instance, the mother and her daughter reportedly flew through a company called Miracle Flight, which provides flights to children with medical complications. She claimed her child had gastroparesis, a condition that prevents proper stomach emptying.
Several doctors later ruled out both of those diagnoses according to Fox 4 News. The affidavit states Jessica also created a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to take her daughter for medical treatment. During the alleged abuse, authorities said Jessica chronicled her child’s health journey on social media. She had about 24,000 followers on TikTok, where she reportedly posted videos multiple times a day about the victim’s medical journey and frequently interacted with her viewers, per the affidavit.
Jessica reportedly made similar posts on her Facebook and Instagram accounts. Gasser is also accused of sending‘messages to a friend stating she would delete all social media posts about her child’s health, including private messages. The child is now thriving after months of separation from her mother according to the affidavit.
