SALT LAKE CITY — Two Layton women have been charged with faking an illness for their newborn child and grandchild, causing the baby to undergo numerous invasive and painful tests and surgeries.

Jessica Gutierrez, 25, and her mother Rebecca Day, 57, were each charged last month with child abuse, a second-degree felony. Both were booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on Thursday.

Doctors suspect the mother and grandmother of having a condition that motivates them to lie about medical symptoms because of a desire for attention from medical professionals, according to charging documents filed in 3rd District Court.

"The behavior of Gutierrez and Day caused all the unnecessary, painful and invasive medical procedures used in an effort to diagnose or treat the factitious illness," according to charging documents. "As a result, the baby suffered severe harm and severe failure to thrive for no reason."

Gutierrez gave birth to a boy on May 27, 2015. On July 7, she took him to Primary Children's Hospital claiming her son had a high fever and was vomiting, according to charging documents. All tests conducted by the hospital came back normal.

Two days later, police say Gutierrez took the baby to McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden reporting similar symptoms. Doctors referred her back to Primary Children's Hospital and "a wide variety of tests and procedures" were conducted — "all caused by defendant Jessica Gutierrez's and co-defendant Rebecca Day's false and fabricated claims that the baby was suffering from intractable vomiting," the charges state.

Gutierrez continued to claim the baby would vomit within minutes of being fed, although no such behavior was observed by doctors or nurses, according to investigators.

"(The infant) was subjected to a number of invasive and dangerous procedures and tests which failed to identify an underlying medical cause of the defendant's ongoing claims the baby vomited after every feeding," the charges state.

Over the weeks, the infant had a feeding tube installed, another line surgically installed in his vein, and another surgery to place a tube directly into his chest, court documents say.

The infant was discharged July 28, 2015, in the care of his mother and grandmother only to be returned to the hospital on Aug. 3.

Doctors became suspicious

As the hospital staff continued to monitor the baby's dipping glucose levels, several events happened with his feeding tube, including the infant allegedly pulling out the tube one day (something "developmentally impossible" for a 2-month-old baby), the tube getting kinked on another, and doctors discovering the tube had been "sliced" on another occasion, according to the charges.

As doctors became more suspicious about what was happening, they began monitoring the two women and the newborn very closely. In surveillance video, investigators saw Gutierrez "put formula on a washrag retrieved from the bathroom of the baby's hospital room and presented it to that nurse claiming the baby had thrown up," even though the baby had not, the charges state.

On another occasion, Gutierrez allegedly claimed the baby threw up more than 30 milliliters of formula even though doctors had given him only 5 millilitres.

On Aug. 14, 2015, Gutierrez, who had been staying with her baby around the clock, according to doctors, had to leave for the weekend. During this time, the hospital assigned a nurse to monitor the infant in the room around the clock and start administering oral feedings, the charges state.

"Not surprisingly, (the infant) was able to take in regular feedings without further vomiting overnight," the charges state.

Pediatric condition falsification

After reviewing the baby's medical history, on Aug. 17 a child abuse pediatrician concluded the infant "had likely been the victim of a form of child abuse referred to as pediatric condition falsification where his primary caretakers falsified the intractable vomiting and induced other symptoms in the baby during his hospital stay. Her opinion was based on a long list of invasive and painful procedures that (the infant) had been subjected to in a futile attempt to explain the symptoms reported by Gutierrez and Day," the charges state.

The doctor further explained in court documents that "pediatric condition falsification" is "often motivated by the perpetrator's own desire or even addiction to the attention received from medical professionals."

Paternity of the infant's father was never established, according to court records. The infant has since been placed in foster care and investigators say the child has had no eating problems and has gained weight at a normal rate.

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