Jessica Gasser, a 27-year-old social media influencer from Tatum, Texas, has been arrested and charged with medical abuse against her 3-year-old daughter.
She is suspected of having Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, a mental disorder in which a caregiver exaggerates or creates health problems in a person under their care to get attention and sympathy. Gasser had 24,000 followers on TikTok, as well as Facebook and Instagram accounts where she would post about her daughter’s medical treatments.
After health officials became suspicious when Gasser appeared to be “doctor shopping” for treatments for her daughter, an affidavit was filed containing computer records which showed Gasser had searched for phrases such as “can investigators pull my social media data without a warrant,” “how do you fix Munchausen by Proxy,” and “is lying to a doctor illegal.” Furthermore, Gasser is accused of raising and collecting $685 through GoFundMe for her daughter’s care and accepting a flight from the charity Miracle Flight.
The affidavit also said that Gasser had falsely claimed that her daughter’s blood sugar had crashed during a doctor’s visit and said it had lasted an hour and a half, when in reality it was a 15-minute phone call. She is also accused of trying to get doctors to place a central intravenous line on her daughter even though a doctor said it wasn’t needed. The Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office is seeking more information about the case and asked for help from the public.
Fortunately, it appears that the girl is now in good health now that the allegedly unnecessary medical treatments have ended.