A 35-year-old woman from Gifu Prefecture was arrested Wednesday for allegedly attempting to kill her 1-year-old daughter by adding contaminated water to the intravenous drip the child was being administered at Kyoto (Japan) University Hospital in Kyoto, police said.
While the suspect has denied her intention to kill the girl, the hospital has said this could be a case of Munchausen by proxy, a form of child abuse in which the mother intentionally sickens her child through medication and other methods, according to the police.
"I can nurse (my child) if she becomes ill. I did not do it with a view to causing her death, " the woman was quoted as telling the police.
According to investigations, the woman used a syringe to inject contaminated water into an intravenous drip hooked up to her fifth daughter at the hospital's intensive care unit between Monday and Tuesday.
Her daughter, who is 1 year and 10 month old, could have died due to blood poisoning, but her condition is improving following treatment.
The woman's second, third, and fourth daughters all died of illness by the age 4.
The fifth daughter was transferred to Kyoto University Hospital early December from a Gifu hospital. Her condition was worsening due to blood poisoning, and tests detected the presence of the fungus candida albicans, which is not normally found in the bloodstream.
Suspecting child abuse, the hospital consulted the police and checked on the woman's movements. They found she had mixed a sports drink with water and waited until the liquid went bad before using it in the case, according to police. She also possessed a syringe, they added
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