CLEVELAND, OHIO: According to law enforcement and court documents in Texas, a distressing case has emerged where a 27-year-old mother, Jessica Gasser, is accused of subjecting her 3-year-old daughter to unnecessary medical procedures. The authorities have revealed that Gasser took her toddler to over a dozen medical providers across Texas, Louisiana, and Ohio, raising concerns about potential medical abuse.
The Tarrant County Sheriff's Office (TCSO) has urged anyone who has had contact with Gasser to come forward with relevant information. The authorities suspect that this troubling situation may be a case of Factitious Disorder Imposed on Another (FDIA), which was formerly known as Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy (MSP). This mental illness involves a person acting as if someone under their care has a physical or mental condition when, in reality, the individual is perfectly healthy, as described by the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio.
Suspicions of child medical abuse
Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital was one of the medical providers listed in the probable cause affidavit as having seen the 3-year-old girl involved in this distressing case. Following suspicions raised by healthcare workers on February 9, a months-long investigation led to the arrest of Gasser on July 14. According to the arrest affidavit obtained by the local outlet Star-Telegram, Gasser could potentially face a charge of felony injury to a child, as per the document filed on July 11.
Currently in custody at the Tarrant County Corrections Center, Gasser has not been formally charged by prosecutors as of July 18, as indicated by online records.The case came to light in February when a Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) liaison for Cook Children's Medical Center, Robin Chavez, alerted the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office (TCSO) about a suspected victim of child medical abuse. Chavez further informed the authorities that Gasser had previously been reported for suspicions of child medical abuse by at least two other Texas medical facilities.
The mother tampered with the child’s feeding tube
The investigation into the case involving Gasser has revealed troubling details of alleged medical child abuse. According to investigators, Gasser provided false medical history to healthcare workers, leading them to perform numerous procedures on her 3-year-old daughter, including drawing blood a shocking 28 times. In one concerning instance cited in the court documents, Gasser claimed the child was not eating and losing weight, resulting in the insertion of a feeding tube in March. However, medical staff suspected that the mother was tampering with the feeding tube, adding to the severity of the allegations.
The Tarrant County Sheriff's Office (TCSO), in a statement shared on Facebook, expressed uncertainty about the duration of the abuse but noted that Gasser had sent messages to a friend, instructing her to delete all Facebook posts related to her child's health, including private messages. This attempt to erase any digital trail raises further concern about the potential extent and cover-up of the alleged abuse.
