Out of Prison, Mother With Disorder Waits (The Ledger)

Out of Prison, Mother With Disorder Waits

By Shoshana Walter
THE LEDGER

Published: Saturday, November 15, 2008 at 12:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, November 16, 2008 at 12:10 a.m.

LAKELAND | More than a month after her release from prison, Tracy McHugh remained in limbo last week, awaiting deportation back to Britain in the custody of United States immigration authorities.

The Lakeland mother who was diagnosed with Munchausen by proxy disorder and convicted of aggravated child abuse in August 2007, completed her sentence Oct. 7. Authorities said McHugh subjected her children to hundreds of unnecessary medical visits and sometimes harmful procedures, seeking attention for herself through the excessive care of her children.

Her two daughters and a son are now in the care of former family friends and McHugh, born in Scotland, will be deported, but immigration officials won't say when.

British law enforcement officials may decide to continue monitoring McHugh when she returns, but the crime doesn't transfer there, said Dean Churm of the British Consulate.

But if media interest in Scotland is any indication, her notoriety likely will.

'She's been in the Scottish papers a lot over here as they think she's going to be dumped back over here,' wrote British-based Sun reporter Rob McAuley in an e-mail to The Ledger. 'And it will cause an outrage if she is.'

For almost all of her 39 years, McHugh has lived in the United States as a permanent resident alien, according to her mother, Pauline McHugh, and therefore had many of the same rights as citizens. She was required to pay taxes and was allowed to vote in certain local and state elections.

But under federal law, Tracy McHugh became deportable the moment she was convicted of aggravated child abuse, a first-degree felony.

McHugh could hire a lawyer and fight deportation, Churm said, but the decision is ultimately in the hands of immigration officials in the United States.

Churm declined to go into the specifics of McHugh's case, citing consulate policy, but he did agree to discuss general issues affecting British citizens convicted of crimes in the United States.

'This is a common problem for deportees,' Churm said. 'Quite a lot of people come to the U.S. and get a green card, but if they don't apply for citizenship and commit that kind of a crime, they'll be deported. It comes quite as a surprise to them.'

Pauline McHugh said she'd like to see her daughter get help and treatment for the disorder, although the validity of Munchausen by proxy as a condition has been questioned by many in the medical community.

Although she grew up in Manchester, England, Pauline McHugh said she is not sure how many of her and Tracy's relatives are still alive.

Pauline McHugh left Tracy McHugh's biological father in Scotland before Tracy was born, after he pushed Pauline McHugh down a flight of stairs when she was six months' pregnant. Pauline McHugh's mother lives in a nursing home in London.

'She'll be all right. I know that,' Pauline said of Tracy. 'It's just that I'll never get to see her. I feel like I'm losing my oldest daughter and my grandchildren.'

McHugh and her daughter hardly talked during the ­nearly two years Tracy McHugh sat in prison.

Their relationship, strained for years since Tracy McHugh's adoptive father died, was overpowered by media attention, Pauline McHugh said. In recent months, the two have begun talking again.

'It's a mixed feeling when something like this comes about. It's my own flesh and blood. What kind of mother am I? Grandmother? You question yourself,' she said. 'She misses those kids desperately. She thought and still does think she was being a good mother.'