Mother Hurries Toddler To US Hospital, Then Injects Him With Insulin

An Iowa mother was handed down a ten-year prison sentence on Friday after she was found guilty of deliberately administering her two-year-old son insulin injections.

In March 2023, Alexandra Marie Frost, 27, took her son to the University of Iowa Health Care Stead Family Children's Hospital. According to a criminal complaint obtained by PEOPLE, the child had "low blood sugar levels that required medical intervention, including the administration of glucose, and lab test results showed his insulin levels were very high."

The complaint stated that the boy's blood sugar levels would decrease and subsequently return to normal. As the boy's condition worsened, there "seemed to be anomalies," which led doctors to conclude that it was Munchausen syndrome by proxy, in which a carer fabricates or causes a person's illness or disability.

According to the affidavit, the hospital staff activated a video camera in the child's room on March 13 to determine the cause of his illness. The video showed Frost injecting something into her son's foot before casually throwing away the syringe in a "sharps" container.

The child was quiet until his mother gave him an injection; he then screamed in pain. During the child's hospital stay, Frost was the only person who was consistently there with him, according to The Gazette.

Medical professionals highlighted that administering insulin to someone who does not require it can have fatal results, such as seizures, coma, or even death. After being taken from his mother's custody by the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, the child's blood sugar irregularities subsided.

Frost entered a written guilty plea in June to two Class D crimes in Johnson County District Court: administering hazardous substances and child endangerment leading to bodily injury. She was initially accused of a Class C felony-child endangerment, causing serious damage. Frost was given 10 years of imprisonment on Friday, August 29.