Mum injected her own blood into disabled son, 5, in bid for attention from medics
A MUM has admitted she injected her disabled son with her own blood in a desperate bid to get attention from medics.
Elizabeth Malone was caught on CCTV using a syringe to inject blood into the five-year-old boy’s nose and mouth.
Cameras were installed in his hospital room after a nurse spotted a syringe hidden in Malone’s sleeve and a bloody napkin in the bathroom.
In shock footage obtained by NBC, she can be seen injecting him and placing a stuffed toy closer to him before staff rushed in to treat him.
The boy, who can’t talk due to his disability, was left with infections and high fevers after he was injected.
‘HE COULD HAVE DIED’
Doctors said he could have died if he hadn’t been treated properly.
He was admitted into Inova Fairfax Hospital in Virginia last year after Malone reported that he was bleeding from his mouth and tracheostomy tube.
The boy had already been hospitalised seven times in two months for unexplained bleeding.
Doctors had been left baffled because he was not getting better while in intensive care.
Just days before she was caught on camera, hospital staff had alerted child protection services because they feared someone was intentionally harming the boy.
UNEXPLAINED BLEEDING
The mum-of-three was arrested on April 25 last year and on Wednesday pleaded guilty to child abuse.
She said in a police interview: “I don’t want to intentionally cause him harm. I know I did, I know I did. Punish me but please let me see my children again.”
Her lawyer told the judge that Malone denies intentionally trying to harm her son.
They said she liked the way doctors responded when the boy was bleeding once before.
She injected him to try and recreate those symptoms because she thought he wasn’t receiving enough attention, the court heard.
MOST READ IN WORLD NEWS
Her lawyer said: “She denies any intention to harm her child. She loves her child like any mother.”
Malone will be sentenced in July.
The boy has now recovered and is back in school.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368 . You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.