Texas police have arrested a mom who overdosed her daughter with Benadryl to fake a seizure. On Wednesday, July 13, the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office served a warrant for Jesika Jones, 30, for endangering and causing an injury to her four-year-old child.
According to Oxygen, Jones was reported by a pediatrician, Dr. Jamye Coffman, from Cook Children's Medical Center, who suspected she had been poisoning her daughter with the allergy medication for some time. The child was admitted to the hospital at least four times this year alone because her mother claimed she was having seizures.
In the previous medical incidents, the hospital workers did not find any indication of seizure activities in the child's test results, but they did find traces of Benadryl in her system. However, before they could share the information, the mother and child had already left the hospital.
Benadryl is not recommended for kids below 6 years old
But on June 19, Jones was back at Cook Children's Medical Center and claimed her daughter was having seizures again. This time, the staff asked the laboratory for a 24-hour turnaround of the child's test results.
Hospital surveillance cameras showed that the mother frequently brought her daughter to the restroom. A few hours later, the child exhibited body tremors, high blood pressure, elevated heart rate, dilated pupils, and difficulty standing up.
The police alleged that the mom might have been overdosing her daughter during those bathroom breaks. The police noted that Jones had her purse whenever they would go inside that restroom.
According to What to Expect, children below six years old must not be given diphenhydramine, the antihistamine ingredient in Benadryl, without a doctor's advice. Even if it's an over-the-counter drug, it can lead to serious adverse effects in young kids. The allergy medication induces sleepiness in some patients, but this sedating effect is dangerous for a child's central nervous system.
Coffman told the detectives of the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office that for a child to develop seizures, the dosage of Benadryl has to be high. This puts the child at risk for seizures, breathing difficulties, cardiac arrhythmia, and coma. However, when interviewed by Detective Michael Weber, the mother said she hadn't given her daughter this medication in months, but she admitted she had Benadryl in her purse for her own allergies.
When the detective presented Jones with the laboratory tests indicating traces of Benadryl, she admitted giving her daughter at least two Benadryl pills for adults so they could all sleep. Further probing, however, led the mother to break down and confess to the cops.
Jesika Jones claims she needs help
Upon closer inspection of the things in her purse, police found that 18 pills were gone from one packet of a 24-pill Benadryl, and another packet was empty. The authorities estimated that the mother had given at least 42 Benadryl pills to her child between June 19 to 24.
In addition to the traces of Benadryl, the child's test results also indicated that she had Trazadone and Hydroxyzine in her system. Trazadone is a sedative antidepressant, while Hydroxyzine can calm an anxious person or relieve itchiness.
"I think I'm a horrible person," the mother said in her confession, per the Star-Telegram. "I just know I need help," adding that she was also a "habitual liar."
An unnamed man who lives with the mother and child told the police that Jones might have Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a condition that prompts a caregiver, usually the mother, to fake the medical symptoms of the one they are looking after.
Related Article: Court Bans Texas Mom from Contact with Her Child; What is Suspected Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy?
