The Cerdas Family
When the family moved to Oregon and connected with new doctors in their town, the medical team was starting to question the family’s diagnoses. Dr. Thomas Valvano, an OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital pediatrician. He reported his concerns to child welfare services.
Source: oregonlive.com
It was then discovered that not only did the girls not have the disease, their mother claimed that they had, but that they were victims of medical child abuse. The girls were temporarily removed from their home while the parents were investigated. Dr. Valvano told the court the daughters weren’t, in fact, chronically ill and had been the victims of Munchausen Syndrome, which is the fancy name for medical child abuse.