South Florida mother sent to prison on abuse charges

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA - A South Florida mother began serving her five year prison sentence Friday for purposely making her daughter so ill that she was hospitalized hundreds of times and underwent numerous unnecessary operations. <br> <br> Kathy Bush, 44, formerly of Coral Springs, had been free on bail as she challenged the 1999 aggravated child abuse conviction. She had been sentenced to five years in prison and five years probation. <br> <br> Prosecutors said she had Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a psychological disorder in which parents causes illnesses in a child to draw attention to themselves. <br> <br> Her daughter, Jennifer, now 15, was hospitalized 200 times and underwent about 40 operations before the state began investigating in 1996. <br> <br> Friday morning, a judge denied Bush&#39;s request that she have more time before turning herself in. <br> <br> An earlier surrender date had already been extended so Bush could spend time with other family members and meet some family commitments. <br> <br> ``I feel like I&#39;m running the race of my life,&#39;&#39; Bush told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel earlier this year. ``I&#39;m trying to teach my men how to cook and trying to spend some quality time with them. <br> <br> An appellate court rejected Bush&#39;s appeal earlier this year. Bush lived in Peachtree City, Ga., with her husband when she was out on bond. <br> <br> Also Friday, she was sentenced on welfare fraud charges. Circuit Judge Victor Tobin ordered her to serve a concurrent two-year sentence for accepting help with medical bills for illnesses and hospital stays she deliberately caused. <br> <br> She will be moved to a federal facility within a week, said defense attorney Robert Buschel. <br> <br> In 1999, Bush was barred from contacting her daughter Jennifer, now living in Illinois with a foster family. Last October she agreed to give up her parental rights in a deal that allows sons Craig, Jason and Matthew to visit Jennifer twice a year and exchange letters that are monitored by authorities. <br> <br> Though Jennifer was not in the courtroom, a letter from her condemning both her parents was read aloud. <br> <br> In the two-page letter, Jennifer blamed her mother for harming her and for never admitting guilt. She also wrote she did not want to reunite with either parent. <br> <br> Bush and her attorneys tried to put together a request for a retrial based on new evidence that one of the prescription drugs Jennifer used, Propulsid, has been taken off the market because it may cause seizures. <br> <br> Tobin said he would consider cutting the sentence or granting a new trial if Bush&#39;s attorneys can convince him that some of Jennifer&#39;s symptoms resulted were side effects of medications prescribed by doctors, not caused by her mother.