Valeria Shakhov Injects Daughter with “Unknown Substance”
Valeria Shakhov probably won’t attain the level of ignominy that was earned by Debra Diaz, who was accused of injecting her kids with tainted blood. But the two moms appear to be cut from the same cloth. Shakhov was arrested after hospital staff, suspecting Munchausen syndrome by proxy was in da house, put her under surveillance, and discovered her injecting her 19-month-old daughter, Rachel Pineda, with an “unknown substance” to make her ill.
When confronted, Shakhov said that the substance was baby formula. Mmmm, baby formula - it tastes even better delivered intravenously! Toxicology tests are still pending; once out, they’ll tell us whether Shakhov was really using Similac, or something more nefarious. I’m not a doctor, but “baby formula” sounds like bullshit. Most of the nutrients in formula end up in the bloodstream anyway; would injecting them into a child make her sick enough that she required medical attention? If someone with sufficient medical knowledge can comment, I’d be grateful.
I’ve never understood Munchausen’s. Is parenting not stressful enough that you have to bring more stress upon yourself? What kind of warped person feeds off of that type of negative energy? More important: what kind of sicko values feeding off of that energy more than they value the health and life of their child?
(Hat tip: Sinthyia)
Tags: carroll, child, children, daughter, injection, iowa, mother, munchausen-syndrome-by-proxy, parenting, parents, Valeria-ShakhovRelated Stories
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5 opinions for Valeria Shakhov Injects Daughter with “Unknown Substance”
L
Jan 2, 2007 at 9:25 pm
According to an earlier article (sorry, I can’t remember where I read it) it said that she was injecting the “unknown substance” into her daughters G (feeding) tube, so it wasn’t actually intravenous. Either way, I’m not buying the formula story.
My son also has a G tube. From experience I know that while in the hospital, the only things being injected (or pumped)into the tube would be formula, water or meds. All of which would be on a schedule and administered by nurses or by the parent w/ prior approval. So there would be no reason for this ‘mother’ to be injecting formula w/o the hospital staff knowing she going to do it. Yeah, right… formula my ass.
Steve Remington
Jan 3, 2007 at 10:06 am
Wow! Keep us updated on this. I am interested to learn what types of formula should not be injected. heh!
J
Jan 4, 2007 at 8:34 am
Okay, don’t know anything about this particular story but what I read here, but I happen to know a fair amount about Munchausen’s. These people do not (generally) thrive on making their children sick, but rather on the attention they get for having sick children. They get addicted, so to speak, to this sympathy and attention and constant ‘poor parent’ attitude, and simply end up doing incredible things to keep the attention flowing. Munchausen’s ’sufferers’, for lack of better term, sometimes go so far as to kill several children- all for the sympathy and attention. However, I need to specify the difference between Munchausen’s and Muchausen’s by proxy. Muchausen’s is someone who makes themselves ill for the attention, or pretends to be ill for the attention. Munchausen’s by proxy is the term for people who inflict illness or injury upon their child for the attention. In any case, regardless of how much anybody knows about this illness, I’m not sure anyone can truly ‘understand it.’ It is an upsetting and disturbing behavior, regardless of rhyme or reason behind it. Hope this helps.
Nicole
Jan 7, 2007 at 2:32 am
I’m no doctor but, I am an RN and can assure you that running formula intravenously or by injection could be potentially fatal. Munchausen’s–can’t people find a better way to get attention–join a fucking circus if you’re that desperate–what a looser.
JRX
Jan 12, 2007 at 10:11 pm
Often, people perpetrators in a Munchausen by proxy situation suffer from other mental illnesses. My niece was the victim of a this kind of situation. Her mother has a psychological diagnosis of Personality Disorder with Borderline, Histrionic and Narcissistic features. She craved attention and tried to get it any way she could. Nearly everything in her life was make believe. She had been abused as a child and was in a series of foster homes where she met children with a variety of illnesses. In her specific case, she claimed my niece had symptoms of many different illnesses. The primary ones were epilepsy, cerebral palsy, feeding disorder and developmental delay. She had known children in her foster homes with all these problems. She was a lot like the guy in the TV show “The Pretender”. She has had several names and at least two social security numbers. I’m way off subject. I’ll end by saying that thankfully my niece was removed from her custody and now lives with me. I wrote about her journey at http://realicon.blogspot.com. It’s not as dramatic as Julie Gregory’s book Sickened: The Memoir of a Munchausen by Proxy Childhood, but it’s eye opening.
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