An Indiana mother who allegedly confessed to injecting feces into her teenage son’s IV bag while he underwent cancer treatment at a children’s hospital has been arrested, KTLA sister station WXIN in Indianapolis reported Wednesday.
Tiffany Alberts, 41, has been charged with six counts of aggravated battery and one count of neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury, according to the station.
Police were initially called to investigate a case of possible child abuse at Riley Hospital for Children — where the woman’s 15-year-old son was being treated for leukemia — last Thursday, according to court documents obtained by WXIN.
The victim, whose name was not released, had several unexplainable infections that delayed treatment, so a surveillance camera was placed in his room.
Surveillance video allegedly showed Alberts injecting an unknown substance into her son’s IV bag with a syringe on multiple occasions, according to the court documents.
Hospital staff told police the teen had received his first round of chemotherapy in September, but returned several days later because he was experiencing diarrhea and vomiting, which was accompanied by a fever, WXIN reported.
His symptoms did not improve, and the boy subsequently had to have several surgeries; he also spent 18 days in intensive care.
Investigators later questioned the mother after he tested positive for blood cultures with organisms that are normally found in feces, according to the station.
She initially told police she injected water into son’s IV bag to “flush the line,” explaining that the medicine the hospital gave him “burned” the teen. Alberts later allegedly confessed to injecting fecal matter into the IV bag multiple times in the hopes her son would be moved to another unit that had better treatment, WXIN reported.
Doctors said the boy could have died from septic shock as a result of any of the episodes, according to the television station.
The teen’s health improved once the mother was removed from his hospital room, but doctors have expressed concern they may have missed the window to keep his cancer in remission, and that he could die due to the prolonged delay of treatment, according to court documents.
