Mommy Dead and Dearest Page #3

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local hospitals]

[over 100 times between 2005 and 2014.]

Gypsy:
If we'd be going to the doctor,

she would do all the talking.

I'd always have a stuffed animal

or a Barbie doll.

She'd just tell me just play

with my Barbie doll.

And if the doctor would come

to examine me--

"Just stay in the wheelchair,

be calm, play with your doll,

and don't move your legs."

[Gypsy underwent multiple surgeries

during her hospital visits.]

[They included gastrointestinal operations,]

[eye procedures, and the removal]

[of her salivary glands.]

I was just as much in the dark

as everybody else.

The only thing I knew is that

I could walk.

As for everything else,

you had the leukaemia and the epilepsy.

I was taking medication

that she said was cancer medicine.

She would shave my head and say,

"Well, it's going to fall out anyway,

so let's just keep it nice and neat."

I just went on blind faith

that a mother knows best.

[The medications Dee Dee gave Gypsy

induced many of the symptoms

[of diseases doctors thought

they were treating.]

You're supposed to love

and protect your children.

How could you do this to your child?

Dr. Marc Feldman: Gypsy Rose Blanchard

[Skype interview] was as consistently

and viciously subjected to,

[Clinical Psychologist]

in my opinion, Munchausen by proxy

[Munchausen expert]

as anyone I've come across.

Munchausen by proxy involves a caregiver

[Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome]

who either feigns or actually induces

illness in her children.

And her goal is some kind

of emotional gratification--

looking for sympathy, attention, care,

concern that she feels unable to get

in any other way.

It is a form of child abuse,

first and foremost.

Gypsy:
The earliest surgery

that I can remember

probably would be

having my feeding tube put in.

You have to have it constantly changed,

like every six months.

And that would be pretty painful,

because they don't put you

under anaesthesia,

they just take you

in the emergency room,

rip the old one out,

and put a new one in.

I don't know why

these procedures were done

or how her mother was able

to convince the doctors.

"Mind-boggling" is the only way

I can put her ability

to manipulate people.

Basically, each one

of these paperclips

is some medical record

where Dee Dee essentially lied

to the doctor about something.

Mentally, Gypsy is behind.

She's at the level of a seven-year-old

on mother's information.

And this is something that you see

almost across all of the records,

is "Upon mother's information,"

"Upon history by mother."

So she's talking to the doctor here

and she's talking about

how she has mental and

developmental delays, needs assistance.

Apparently, "while holding

her hands over Gypsy's ears,

so as not offend,

history of mental retardation--

seven-year-old level, per mom."

And so, this was the one time where

a doctor actually put in the record

that Dee Dee's got her hands

over Gypsy's ears,

so Gypsy can't even hear what

Mom is telling the doctor.

Then we get into the family history.

The family history changed

depending on what doctor she was at.

You'll notice here, we don't get

a whole lot of...

- She's at the cardiologist.

- Right, she's at the cardiologist,

and so they all died of a heart attack.

Now, this was the first one

that jumped out at me.

She ends up going to the neurologist,

Dr. Flasterstein, and so...

the very first thing right off the bat--

"Mother is not a good historian,"

which is interesting, because he

puts that in bold and underlines it.

Dr. Flasterstein: One of the things

that was a big discrepancy

was that for a person

that has not walked

for nine years, for years,

she should have, technically,

almost no muscles in her

lower extremities.

But she did have muscles

that looked quite normal.

And she was able to support

her body weight.

I remember her standing.

So, I had a big doubt about the

whole thing, from the beginning.

Stanfield:
He says, "Since last seen,

I managed to talk to one of her

previous providers.

She specifically remembers

Gypsy Rose and mentioned that

her previous neurologist

clearly reported the fact

that Gypsy does not have

muscular dystrophy.

Analyzing all the facts,

and after talking to her

previous paediatrician,

- there's a strong possibility

of Munchausen by proxy..."

- What?

...with maybe some underlying, unknown

ideology to explain her symptoms."

Once in a while, we report patients

to Social Services.

We do that when we feel

that there's a neglect.

But a neglect is different

from what this mom was doing.

She wasn't really neglecting her,

she was over-treating her.

We have a system,

which is a big integrated system,

that decided to adopt her

and bring her, support her.

So many people looking at her,

knowing the history,

knowing what she was going through,

knowing what she went through,

I would have been rejected on the spot.

So all that I could do

was put that in my notes.

Nobody in the system ever said

anything about it,

and I didn't see it right

to keep going

in convincing other people

that something is not right here.

- Now...

- Un-freakin'-believable.

...here's the interesting thing.

This is the last record

from Mercy, here in Springfield,

until 2015.

So, this is 2007.

Rod:
Eight years.

What I couldn't figure out

was how Dee Dee figured out

that Dr. Flasterstein was on to her.

But if you look at a lot of

these social work notes,

Dee Dee's requesting medical records.

She would have gotten a

copy of this letter.

But I still don't understand

why you put your child through this.

I don't know.

I mean, the thing is...

- Good question.

- ...it just keeps going.

And it would have kept going

Cause her mama was an insane,

compulsive liar.

Rod:
Dee Dee and I met

at the bowling alley one night.

Met up again a couple of weeks later.

And then we started dating then.

She got pregnant.

She got pregnant and...

being from the South, I guess, it was--

I was raised where if you

got a girl pregnant,

then you got married.

There was no other question

about what you did.

I was 17.

I woke up on my 18th birthday

and I'm like, "What am I doing here?"

She was kind of into some dark--

darkness-- dark things.

Uh...

she started talking a little bit

about witchcrafts

and just different weird,

dark stuff like that.

It was kind of weird.

She had a pet tarantula.

Dee Dee was my aunt.

Um, real... weird girl.

I would think she's bipolar, no doubt.

Multiple personalities, perhaps.

Definitely...

an evil person, I would say, you know?

To shave your kid's head

and say that she's got leukaemia?

You're a sick individual.

MC:
At this time, we'd like

to present to you

South Lafourche ROTC Military Queen,

Ms. Clauddinea Pitre.

Her escort-- Sergeant Earl Longden.

Clauddine "Dee Dee" Pitre...

Carr:
What was Dee Dee like

as a child?

What, baby?

What was Dee Dee like as a child?

- What was Dee Dee like as a child?

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