Britt Jones
A mom has been arrested after allegedly injecting feces into her child’s intravenous line in an Ohio children’s hospital.
Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus reported a mother after staff reportedly first noticed her attempting to inject a ‘foreign substance’ into her daughter’s drip on February 6.
Tiffany Le Sueur, 35, was then monitored during visits to her child’s room, on the advice of authorities.
However, according to a criminal complaint seen by the Columbus Dispatch, Le Sueur had attempted to inject what appeared to be feces into the line on February 8.
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At 8.45pm, a Columbus police officer from the force’s Domestic Violence Unit was contacted by another officer, who claimed they saw the mother in possession of a syringe and what they believed to be fecal matter.
The complaint further claims that hospital security cameras show Le Sueur entering the bathroom with an empty cup, which is then filled with fecal matter when she exits.
According to the documents, she then filled the syringe with the substance and injected it into an IV line, which was connected to her child’s hand.
Columbus Dispatch obtained the records, which reports that Le Sueur’s preliminary hearing will happen on February 19 after a Franklin County judge set her bond at $250,000.
According to the Independent, she is also banned from all unsupervised contact with minors, per her bail conditions.
Nationwide Children’s Hospital states on its website that it advocates for children, stating: “We're committed to providing the highest quality care for patients and whole child wellness, advocacy for children and families, research discoveries and education of patients, families, team members and the community.
“Nationwide Children’s is one of the best children’s hospitals in the country - but it is so much more.”
A Nationwide Children’s Hospital told UNILAD: "Due to patient privacy, we are unable to confirm or provide information about specific patients."
Introducing fecal matter into an IV line is an emergency situation, say ARFAA Law Group, as this contaminates the child’s supply and directly introduces bacteria to their system.
The last nationally reported case of this occurred in 2019, when Tiffany Alberts injected feces into her 15-year-old son’s IV drip in Indiana.
Her son had been receiving treatment for leukemia since August 2016, a Marion County police affidavit said.
However, once released, he came back days later showing signs of a fever, vomiting and diarrhea.
Blood tests showed a bacterial infection and sepsis, and bacteria found in feces.
From there, staff monitored his lines and caught his mom in the act, injecting feces.
She was sentenced to seven years in prison.