An Iowa woman has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for injecting her 2-year-old son with insulin, which made him sick.
On Friday, Aug. 29, Alexandra Marie Frost, 27, was given the sentence after pleading guilty in June to child endangerment causing injury and giving harmful substances, the Johnson County Attorney’s Office confirmed to PEOPLE.
The case began in March 2023 when Frost brought her toddler 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 tests results indicated his insulin levels were very high.”
Doctors noticed unusual patterns in the boy’s health, raising concerns about Munchausen syndrome by proxy — a condition where a caregiver fakes or causes illness or injury in someone else, according to a search warrant also obtained by PEOPLE.
On March 13, 2023, hospital staff turned on a camera in the boy’s room. The next day, footage allegedly showed Frost holding a syringe and injecting her son’s foot.
“After injecting [her son’s] foot, Frost walks to where the ‘SHARPS’ container is located and appeared to place the syringe into the container,” the warrant stated. “Prior to the injections [victim] appeared to be calm and when Frost injected his foot, [victim] becomes agitated and screams consistent with being in pain.”
Doctors told investigators that injecting insulin can dangerously lower a person’s blood sugar, leading to serious health problems or even death.
According to the warrant, Frost was the only person regularly with her son in the hospital. Once the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services removed him from her care, his glucose levels returned to normal.
