A 41-year-old mother from Wolcott, Indiana is being accused of injecting her 15-year-old son's intravenous lines multiple times with feces while he was undergoing cancer treatment. The child developed life-threatening blood infections; which delayed his treatment. Doctors say that the boy would have died had he undergone cancer treatment while he still had the blood infection.
The Teenage Cancer Patient Had Unexplained Infections
Tiffany Alberts, a teacher, is now facing six counts of aggravated battery and one count of neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury, all felonies. The investigation started November 17 when medical staff said the 15-year-old boy, who is being treated for leukemia at Riley Hospital for Children, developed several unexplained infections. After his first round of therapy, he returned to the hospital after a few days due to high fever, vomiting and significant bouts of diarrhea. Doctors who looked after him couldn't find a medical explanation for the persisting blood infection. That's when Alberts was brought in for questioning.
Mom Claimed She Injected Feces Into IV For Her Son To Be Moved To A Better Treatment Unit
According to court documents, Alberts allegedly first told investigators that she injected water into her son's IV to "flush the line" because the "medicine that was given to him burned." However, she later confessed that she did inject the boy's IV with fecal matter several times since November 13. She claimed she only did it to get her son moved to another unit at Riley, where she said treatment was better.
Alberts Is Now Awaiting Trial With A No Contact Order
On Wednesday, Alberts posted an $80,000 surety bond and was released from jail. A judge allowed her to reside on Elmore Drive in Springfield as she awaits trial, with a no contact order with her son as a condition of her release. Her next court date is a pre-trial hearing set for Jan. 17, 2017, online court records show.
