This blogger got nearly a million hits to her blog while describing whether or not to abort a baby with a genetic malformation she was carrying.
Then she posted a picture of her baby after it was born. One of her readers had a doll collection and thought that the baby looked like a doll. Then her story unraveled. The blogger was never pregnant. The “baby” was really just a doll. It was all a hoax.
She pulled her site down (http://littleoneapril.blogspot.com) and deleted her Facebook entries, but if you want to see a sample of what she wrote, you can view the stored Google caches from March 31, April 20 (encouraging people to buy shirts to support her baby), June 2, June 4. In fact, if you want to read more of her posts, just click here to reach the Google search results for her blog and then click on the “cached” link (in grey) at the bottom of each entry.
I would actually enjoy reading about what was going through her mind when she got “outed” and what her response was. That would make a compelling story in itself.
If you think this is foreshadowing about my trial posts, it isn’t. They’re real. I change minor facts and admittedly embellish a little, but everything is factual. I took notes about the whole process with the intent of writing a book and just never got around to doing so.
Can you find a link to the picture of the baby that looks like a doll? I would like to see for myself. Thanks.
eh. I couldn’t eee-ven read past the first post. Someone who would do that is way off. Period.
I think that’s despicable. Her fantasy life is one thing, but when you drag other people’s honest emotions and feelings into it, then use them for personal gain -that’s despicable.
One of the greatest things about the blogging process is meeting others that are like minded, and at times, being blessed enough to have these new friends support you in time of hardships and loss. We have a support system we never thought of before. To violate that kind of connection is a sad thing.
I don’t think so.
Yes, the internet is open for anyone.
But just because one has a blog and posts fictionalized posts regarding real life events that happened to others, does not mean in any way that SHE dragged them in.
No ma’am, the people who are angry, venting and crying are the ones who stumbled onto the blog.
If she’d actively, and I mean ACTIVELY(!!), advertised her blog then this would be an entire different matter.
But she didn’t. All she did was set up a fictional blog, and post fictional postings there.
I admittedly didn’t read it because even the idea of it bothered me.
If she wrote it with intent to draw people in.. then I think it was wrong.
Don-Most bloggers will pretty much take a blogger at their word (to a point), are compassionate and do get riled up at injustices on both sides of a position.
If she caused people to feel alarm and sorry for her… then I think that is wrong.
You can do what you want… but I think with most of us.. there is a code of respect and trust in the blogosphere.
I vaguely recall someone talking about a girl who had said she was raped… went by some vegetable name… not sure. Well these med bloggers were real upset to find out after befriending and supporting her for months that it was all a hoax. They felt betrayed.
Maybe someone out there remembers what I am talking about? Did she call herself the ___tomatoe? Not sure. Point is well meaning bloggers got sucked in hook, line and sinker and were hurt/angry to find it was a hoax.
I guess it comes down to how you view blogging and the value you put on the connections you meet.
That woman has some serious problems (didn’t bother reading the blog). If she profited from her hoax in any way, it should be taken up with local law enforcement, like this case.
I took notes about the whole process with the intent of writing a book and just never got around to doing so.
I think you should re-consider. Doctors have certain things in common…medical school, residency, dealing with patients/staff/bureaucracy, and the ever-present threat of being sued. Even though not every doctor has been through a trial, they all think about it.
I’ll give you a name for your novel–House of Satan. There. Slap that on the cover of your first few posts and send it to some publishers. I bet there would be huge interest in publishing this. (You CAN use a pen name, like Dr. Ed, perhaps?)
You’ll laugh – on my computer all the notes I kept about my residency – about 400 pages worth – were in a file called “The House II”.
That’s another book I’ll have to write some day.
Whut?! You mean THE Dr.House II? O.o
It would be interesting if you could ever get the patient to write it to give the opposite view at the same time and compare both sides of the process from the litigants view in the same book. Two sides of the same coin thing. Plus you expand your audience from more than just angry physicians looking for affirmation. I’m assuming you prevailed of course.
Gee, Matt, that’s going to be a little difficult. The patient died.
I didn’t mean this patient specifically, although it’s my fault for the confusion, I meant A patient who had pursued a claim. It would be interesting to get the perspective of the personal representative of the estate in this case, however. That’s a little more withdrawn from the actual patient though, so the former is the better choice for a full book.
I thought on Don’s comment, and can see his perspective. I think this post hit a nerve with me due to an incident that happened here. A woman claimed to have cancer, and the community began doing things to help this woman. Their hearts were touched by her plight, and they wanted to ease her suffering. She played on their sympathies, and took advantage of their kindness. When it came out she was faking, it made those of us that have gone through the real deal angry.
This seems to be a repeating sort of thing. In the late 1980s, on CompuServe, a person detailed a 9 month pregnancy. Lots of suggestions from other women. Big deal in the early online world. Turns out, was no pregnancy.
I seem to recall that the perp was male, but too many years have passed. It is odd that someone would lie to gain emotional attention that is *online only*. Hard to see how the liar feels that they receive enough genuine emotion to make the fraud worthwhile.
If anyone’s interested, the fake baby blogger just apologized.
I just saw this article -http://www.parentdish.com/
What article? Interesting site but not sure which article. ?
Sorry, that link was unclear. Here it is, Seaspray. http://www.parentdish.com/2009/06/15/blogger-fakes-babys-death/
Perhaps the most egregious example of this kind of thing can be found here: http://www.savetoby.com/
Just a couple years ago a similar thing occurred on a very large parenting message board. A woman claimed to have a micro-preemie and developed a whole following of sympathizers. Each time people started to doubt her story, she would up the stakes a little. By the time she was outed, she was “considering resorting to palliative care only.” It turned out she was stealing pictures of a real micro-preemie from a real mom’s blog. Terrible incident. A close friend was one of her sympathizers. This sounds an awful lot like the same woman. If it is, she’s wised up by using a doll instead of stolen pics.