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) — Since charging Kathy Bush with child abuse in the care of her chronically ill daughter Jennifer, Florida prosecutors have alleged that she suffers Munchausen Syndrome By Proxy, an illness that causes parents to harm or fabricate illnesses in their children in order to get attention for themselves.

But as they are drawing their case to a close, prosecutors have backed away from that theory, avoiding specific mention of the disease while having witnesses suggest that Bush fabricated or induced her daughter's illnesses.

When Bush's trial began last month, Florida prosecutors intended to prove that she has Munchausen Syndrome By Proxy. Bush is accused of making her daughter chronically sick over a two-year period. Between August 1993 and April 1995, Bush took Jennifer to the hospital on 130 separate occasions. Jennifer Bush underwent approximately 40 surgeries for chronic illnesses such as immune system deficiency, gastrointestinal problems, and seizure disorders.

Before trial, presiding Judge Victor Tobin ruled that prosecutors could not specifically mention Bush's alleged Munchausen disorder until they introduce evidence about it — and apparently, they have struggled with the ruling ever since. Judge Tobin suspended the trial for a week in late July to give prosecutors a chance to organize some 3,000 pages of Jennifer's voluminous medical records. In an embarrassing moment in court, the late Joe DiMaggio's medical records had somehow gotten mixed in with Jennifer's files.

Now, instead of focusing on providing a foundation for a Munchausen theory, prosecutors seem more intent on simply proving that Bush exaggerated her daughter's illnesses. On Tuesday and Wednesday, state child abuse expert Dr. John Wright testified that he thought Jennifer Bush's case was suspicious because the daughter did not show symptoms of the severe illnesses her mother claimed she had.

"Very frequently," Wright said, "I found in the record that there was an illness complaint with no attributable symptom."

In addition, Dr. Wright said, medical records suggested that Mrs. Bush either exaggerated or induced some of Jennifer's symptoms or tampered with her daughter's urine samples. He told jurors that Bush reported problems with Jennifer's stomach, bladder, lungs, neurological and immune systems — and it is extremely rare that patients have all those illnesses simultaneously.

But during cross-examination, Bush's attorney, Robert Buschel, pointed out to Wright that Jennifer's doctors witnessed her stomach problems, bouts with vomiting, diarrhea and admitted she had gastrointestinal and immune system disorders.

Since being taken out of her mother's care and placed with foster parents, Jennifer's health has improved drastically. The defense claimed Jennifer's health has improved because of the last surgical procedure on her intestines. According to Bush's attorney, Robert Buschel, Jennifer was critically-ill and had a gastrointestinal illness and immune system deficiency disorder that was genetic — her older brothers, who are now healthy, suffered from the same illnesses. Buschel argued that Jennifer's health began to improve before she was taken from her mother, that she began to eat normally instead of through feeding tubes. Bush has denied suffering from Munchausen Syndrome By Proxy.

A contagious diseases expert, Dr. Alfredo Murciano told jurors that Jennifer suffered from an abnormally high and frequent number of serious infections under what he believed were suspicious circumstances. However, during cross-examination, Murciano conceded that doctors saw nurses use non-sterile procedures when working on Jennifer and that that could have accidentally caused her infections.

If convicted of child abuse, Bush could face 15 years in prison.

—Bryan Robinson