SUSPECTED FLORIDA MUNCHAUSEN TRIAL
				July 20 Update (Opening Statements) July 21 Update July 22 Update Aug. 3 Update Aug. 26 Update Sept. 29 Update Oct. 5 Update Oct. 6 Update Oct. 7 (The Verdict)

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (Court TV) — Jennifer Bush was generally a happy, playful child, but four nurses testified Thursday that the 12-year-old's condition would frequently worsen after a visit from her mother.

Kathy Bush is on trial for aggravated child abuse for allegedly purposely making her daughter Jennifer chronically sick over a two-year period. Florida prosecutors say Bush has Munchausen Syndrome By Proxy, an illness that causes mothers to harm or fabricate illnesses in their children in order to get attention for themselves. Between August 1993 and April 1995, Bush took her now 12-year-old daughter Jennifer to the hospital on 130 separate occasions. Jennifer Bush underwent approximately 40 surgeries for chronic illnesses such as immune system deficiency disorder, gastrointestinal problems, and seizure disorders.

Four nurses testified against Kathy Bush Thursday, detailing the strange behaviors they noticed while caring for her daughter at Coral Springs Medical Center from 1987 to 1991.

According to the nurses' testimony, when Bush would visit her daughter, she would draw the curtains and close the door. Then the trouble would begin.

"What appeared to be a healthy, happy child earlier proved to be a child who was pale, sweating, vomiting, retching for a good hour after her visit," said Patricia Poirier, one of the nurses, according to the Sun-Senteniel.

Jacqueline Edwards, a nurse who is now regional manager for Coral Springs Medical Center, said that just before a scheduled discharge, Kathy would visit and Jennifer's condition would worsen. Edwards recounted how on one occasion, Kathy Bush emerged from her daughter's hospital room and announced Jennifer couldn't be released because she'd just suffered a seizure.

The nurses testified that Kathy Bush's handwriting appeared on doctor's orders, that Jennifer had high, sometimes toxic, levels of a medication in her system, and that feeding pumps mysteriously speeded up after Bush's visits.

The defense attacked the nurses' vagueness about dates, questioning the validity of testimony about incidents that allegedly happened as many as eight years ago.

Bush's defense lawyer, Robert Buschel, got some of the nurses to concede that they saw Jennifer being sick or suffering seizures when her mother was not present.

Buschel suggested the nurses were retaliating because Bush had registered professional complaints against them and filed a lawsuit against the hospital. But the nurses contended they were not made aware of the complaints and that the suit came after suspicions about Bush were voiced to Jennifer's doctor.

Because of a pre-trial ruling by Judge Victor Tobin, prosecutors cannot specifically mention Bush's alleged Munchausen disorder. Tobin said that prosecutors must introduce evidence of the psychiatric disorder before they can mention it to the jury and link it to Bush.

Bush denies suffering from a mental disorder and claims that she never purposely harmed her daughter. She insists that Jennifer was critically-ill and had a gastrointestinal illness and immune system deficiency disorder that was genetic. If convicted of aggravated child abuse, Bush could face up to 15 years in prison.

Kathy Bush will go on trial for a separate, yet related, charge of fraud at a later date. In that case, prosecutors believe Bush lied about her family's income and assets in order to receive Medicaid benefits. She could face up to 30 years in prison on that charge.