INDIANAPOLIS – A former Warsaw woman is accused of injecting feces into her son’s IV bag while he was receiving cancer treatments at Riley Hospital for Children.
41-year-old Tiffany Alberts, of Wolcott, Ind., is charged with six counts of aggravated battery and one count of neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury.
Law enforcement officers were called to Riley Hospital to investigate possible child abuse occuring on November 17, according to charging court documents.
Alberts’ 15-year-old son was at Riley’s being treated for cancer. Doctors discovered he had several unexplainable infections that were delaying treatment.
Hospital staff placed video surveillance in his room, and the video showed Alberts injecting an unknown substance into her son’s IV bag using a syringe several times.
Staff told police that Alberts’ son received his first round of chemotherapy for leukemia in September, went home, and returned several days later with a fever, diarrhea and was vomiting, according to Indianapolis news channel Fox 59.
He’s required several surgeries to changes his central venous line due to concern for infection, and he spent 18 days in the ICU. The staff said his symptoms were not improving.
Doctors also told authorities there is no medical reason to explain the ongoing blood infection. The teen tested positive for blood cultures with organisms that are normally found in stool, according to Riley’s.
Investigators questioned Alberts, who initially said she injected water into her son’s IV bag to “flush the line.” However, she later admitted that she injected fecal matter into the bag on multiple occasions.
She says she did it so her son would be moved to a different unit at Riley with better care.
The boy’s health improved once Alberts was removed from the hospital room. Doctors say their biggest concern is they may have missed their window to keep his leukemia in remission.
Doctors also say the boy easily could have died from any one of the episodes of septic shock, and he still could die from his leukemia due to the prolonged delay in therapy.
