False Charges

In Virginia Beach, Va., there's one mom who knows what it's like to be accused of deliberately making her own child sick - all to get attention.

48 Hours Correspondent Harold Dow takes an inside look at the case of Tracey Sandrock, a mother of three who was accused of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy in 1995.

To date, Nicholas has had about 14 operations since birth, Sandrock says.

"It seemed like every time we went to the doctor, every time we had him checked out, there was something else coming up," she says.

So Sandrock began checking out doctors in Ohio. "I had a hard time finding a pediatrician I was comfortable with," she remembers.

But soon those very doctors were checking her out.

"I guess I came under suspicion in the beginningÂ…because I was taking my son to so many physicians," she says.

Authorities thought that Sandrock may have been intentionally making her son sick, and the state proceeded to take away all three of her children; Cassie was 9, Josh was 7, and Nicholas was just 4.

"[It was] the most painful thing I've ever had to go through in my life," Sandrock says. "Waking up every morning and not hearing my kids in the houseÂ….I was very scared that I wouldn't get them back."

After a five-month investigation, the court found that Nicholas had medically verifiable illnesses and ruled that Sandrock had not abused him.

"They have done far more damage to my children than whatever it was they thought I was doing to them," she says.

One way to avoid falsely accusing mothers like Sandrock is to secretly videotape suspects in hospitals to catch them in the act. Special agent Larry Brubaker is the FBI's expert on Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. He showed 48 Hours some shocking examples of children who survived abuse by their parents.

He recalls a mother who told doctors her child had breathing problems.

"Her husband had just been in the room, and he had just left," Brubaker explains. "She gets up off the bed, andÂ…she's laying on the baby. She wound up pleading guilty after being incarcerated for a year."

In another case, a father had come under suspicion.

"From all appearances, he looks like the perfect caregiver," Brubaker continues while referring to the videotape. "The next thing you know, he gets up, and he puts the child face down on the bed."

The gruesome scene lasted more than a minute.

"He looks at the daughter again, goes out and tells the nurses that 'My child quit breathing,'" he explains. "If you walked in at this scene, you would say, 'Oh, that poor guy.'"

The father was subsequently arrested, but thvideotape is a smoking gun that prosecutors in another case, investigating Kathy Bush, do not have. To see how that case proceeded, read "48 Hours: A Mother Accused."

According to documents obtained by 48 Hours, the state of Florida considered videotaping Bush but never followed through.

Although they have never met, Sandrock believes in Bush.

"I hope and pray she's not [convicted]," Sandrock says, "Because I think that there will be a woman sitting in jail and the only thing that she's guilty of is loving her child and trying to do whatever she thought was right for her child."