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Mother arrested for contaminating sick son's feeding tube

CINCINNATI -- A New York woman has been indicted in Ohio on charges that she injected something into her 4-year-old son's hospital feeding tube that made him sicker, authorities said Friday.

The Hamilton County prosecutor's office said 25-year-old Jessica Valik of Syracuse, New York, was indicted on two felony counts of child endangerment and one count of felonious assault.

Valik's son has been undergoing treatment at Cincinnati Children's Hospital for a rare disease that causes skin to be fragile and to blister and fall off. It's known as "EB," or Epidermolysis Bullosa. The hospital has a special EB center.

The prosecutor's office said Valik injected an unknown substance into the boys' feeding tube Oct. 1 that caused him to suffer diarrhea, making necessary many diaper changes, which are painful because of his skin condition. Authorities said hospital staff became suspicious because they didn't know of any medical reason for the diarrhea.

Valik was initially arrested last week. County jail records indicate she was being held Friday on bonds totaling $350,000. A message was left for her attorney to comment on her behalf.

"As a parent, these cases are hard to understand," Prosecutor Joe Deters said in a statement. "This poor little boy has suffered so much during his short life that it is hard to imagine how his mother would do something to make him sicker."

The prosecutor said Valik could face up to eight years in prison if convicted on all three counts.

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