An investigation prompted by concerns raised by a doctor at Ghent University Hospital (UZ Gent) led to the arrest of a 35-year-old woman from Deerlijk. She is accused of killing her seven-month-old daughter and her 25-day-old son in 2014 and 2015, and of attempting to kill her third child, a five-week-old baby, last year. A revelation that emerged during the investigation proved crucial: the third child had been conceived through IVF using the egg of the woman’s partner, ruling out a genetic condition inherited from the woman.

(Editorial desk: Belgium / Justice & Society)

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What initially appeared to be a series of family tragedies has taken on the contours of a legal nightmare. A 35-year-old woman from Deerlijk, in West Flanders, has been placed under judicial supervision with an electronic ankle tag. She is accused of killing two of her children and attempting to kill the third. The events under investigation span more than a decade, and investigators are now trying to establish what lay behind the deaths.

The timeline of the tragedies

According to information provided by the West Flanders Public Prosecutor’s Office, the first two deaths occurred in 2014 and 2015. The woman, identified in the press by the initials M.V., first lost a seven-month-old daughter and, shortly afterwards, a son who lived for only 25 days. At the time, both deaths were considered to have occurred from natural causes.

The woman even gave interviews to the local press, presenting herself as a grieving mother. In one interview, she said the two children had allegedly suffered from a “rare genetic condition in which the heart’s signals are not transmitted to the brain, causing the heart to stop”. She also organised a charity event in their memory.

The doctor who broke the silence

The investigation was not reopened until March last year, when the woman brought her third child, a five-week-old boy with serious breathing difficulties, to hospital. Doctors could find no clear medical explanation for the baby’s condition or for what had happened to him at home.

One of the doctors at Ghent University Hospital (UZ Gent) became seriously concerned and immediately alerted the authorities. “The investigation began after a doctor at UZ Gent informed the Public Prosecutor’s Office about the suspicious circumstances in which a five-week-old baby had been admitted to hospital,” prosecutor’s spokesperson Griet De Prest told the Belgian press.

The detail that changed everything

The investigation uncovered a detail that fundamentally undermined the woman’s account of the alleged genetic condition. Doctors discovered that the third child, the boy admitted to hospital in 2025, had been conceived through in vitro fertilisation (IVF) using the woman’s partner’s egg, not her own.

This means the baby has no genetic connection to M.V. A rare genetic condition inherited from the mother, as she had previously claimed, therefore cannot explain his condition. This finding led investigators to re-examine the deaths in 2014 and 2015 from a different perspective.

Suspicions of Munchausen syndrome by proxy

Although the Public Prosecutor’s Office has not officially confirmed any psychiatric diagnosis, the case displays features associated with Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a rare and extremely dangerous psychological disorder in which a parent — usually the mother — deliberately causes illness or injury to a child in order to attract attention and sympathy.

The woman is currently accused of murder in connection with the deaths in 2014 and 2015, and attempted murder in connection with the 2025 incident. She is under house arrest and wears an electronic monitoring tag while the investigation continues.

Conclusion

The tragedy in Deerlijk brings an extremely sensitive and serious medical and social issue back into focus. Doctors sometimes encounter situations in which parents appear devoted to their children but are, in reality, causing them harm. Medical professionals say the doctor at UZ Gent had the insight and courage to do what few are willing to do: question a story that initially appeared logical. If the allegations are established, the case could become an important example of how healthcare services and the justice system can work together to protect and save the lives of the most vulnerable.