Rachel Kinsella Case

Medications are normally used to treat people that are ill, but a St. Louis mother had a much more devious reason to use it.

Rachel Kinsella appeared to be taking care of her nine-year-old son, Patrick, who was born prematurely. Her son had epilepsy and hydrocephalus, but the hospital visits became more frequent and secretive.

The woman took her son to St. Louis Children`s Hospital and Children`s Mercy Kansas City, getting medication from both places without telling any of the doctors, according to FOX2Now.

Patrick suffered from epilepsy and hydrocephalus after a premature birth. The mother began making weekly trips to the hospitals with Patrick to get anti-seizure medications. The nine-year-old boy 's health began to decline. He was having hallucinations, seizure, problems walking and breathing.

The nine-year-old child was flown to St. Louis Children’s Hospital after he had a seizure at school. Patrick

Kinsella was accused of poisoning her son with a mix of medications. She was charged with first-degree assault and child endangerment.

Authorities pointed to Munchausen syndrome by proxy for Kinsella 's reason for intentionally giving her son the medication that made him sick. The mental illness is described as:

"A person that acts as if an individual he or she is caring for has a physical or mental illness when the person is not really sick."

Patricks ' illness was created to gain attention for the mother, making her son deathly ill in the process. Assistant Prosecutor Sheila Whirley told jurors:

“She manufactured illnesses. People don’t want to believe that a mother would do this because mothers are supposed to plant the seeds of love that grow for a lifetime.”

Kinsella admitted to police that she “accidentally” gave her son the wrong medication “on occasion.” Doctors disputed that because of the amount of medication and types of drugs that were found in Patrick 's system showed she had intentionally poisoned her