BARELY ALIVE
Mom ‘with Munchausen-by-proxy’ starved son, 13, until he weighed just 51 pounds convincing docs he was dying anyway
A TEXAS mom stopped feeding her son, 13, who weighed just 51 pounds, having convinced medics he was seriously ill.
Dana Tutt, 44, from Cleburne, Texas, was sentenced to five years in prison in 2018 after being accused of lying about her son, Colby, saying he had various chronic illnesses as well as starving him.
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Tutt featured in the second episode of ’s new series Accused: Guilty or Innocent? to claim she was innocent.
When it was filmed in 2016 Tutt was being held on a $25,000 bond.
Tutt is said to have misled doctors about Colby’s medical condition concerning his heart, kidney, colon and stomach which led medics to an ileostomy and gastrostomy.
When Colby and his 9-year-old brother were removed from her care the teen had a feeding tube, central line, and colostomy bag and was taking several pain medications.
Despite his condition and weight Colby did not die.
Tutt told the show that being accused of attempting to kill her son and lying about his medical condition was like someone “stabbing her in the heart”.
In the show she claims she was told that stopping feeding her son would “prolong the inevitable”.
She said: “Me and that accusation don’t go in the same sentence.”
It destroys me as a mother. It destroys me as a human being
Dana Tutt
Tutt added: “I can’t even wrap my head around it. It destroys me as a mother. It destroys me as a human being.”
Colby was even referred to hospice care as doctors believed nothing else could be done for the teen.
But hospice nurses realized the malnourished lad could consume foods and liquids and notified the authorities.
Although Tutt was never diagnosed with Munchausen syndrome by proxy, she was convicted of attempted murder for starving her son and having him undergo more than a dozen unnecessary surgeries.
Munchausen by proxy is a serious medical condition which takes the form of abuse where a person fabricates illness for a dependent and puts them through unnecessary medical treatment.
Infamous Munchausen by Proxy cases
Dee Dee Blanchard
Blanchard kept her daughter Gypsy in a wheelchair throughout her life.
She also claimed Gypsy had leukemia, muscular dystrophy, and other ailments.
Gypsy was convicted for the murder of her mother in 2015.
Blanca Montano
Montano was found guilty of child abuse under circumstances likely to cause death or serious injury in 2013.
Authorities accused her of contaminating her infant daughter’s IV lines with fecal matter. This led to repeated bacterial infections.
Hope Ybarra
Texan Ybarra kept a blog detailing her life with cancer.
However, she never had cancer.
She also fabricated illnesses in her children.
She later confessed that she poisoned her youngest daughter with pathogens stolen from her workplace that caused anaphylactic shock.
She used nasal spray to manipulate test results for cystic fibrosis.
Marybeth Tinning
Nine of Tinning’s children died at a young age and eight of those were said to be in suspicious circumstances.
In 1987, Tinning was arrested and convicted for the murder of her ninth child, 4-month-old daughter Tami Lynne on December 20, 1985
Tinning confessed and was given a prison sentence of 20 years to life.
It differs from Munchausen’s syndrome where a person pretends to be ill or causes illness or injury to themselves.
It was named after Baron Munchausen, an aristocratic literary figure from 18th-century Germany, with a reputation for tall stories.
The first the first “by proxy” case was in 1976.
In 2017, Child Protective Services agreed not to end Tutt’s parental rights because she allowed her two children to live with her parents.
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Tutt’s lawyer, Terri Moore, told A&E that she still believed Tutt was “absolutely innocent” of attempted murder.
She said: “I would far rather defend someone who is guilty, it doesn’t feel weird defending someone who is guilty.
"What’s horrible is defending someone who with every bit of your being, you believe is innocent.”
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