#franchesca macelli

[boricuacherry-blog]

-Franchesca Macelli

[boricuacherry-blog]

Initially Fancy was on Gypsy's side but after reviewing the medical information she was allowed legal access to, she came to a different conclusion. This caused a division between her and the Blanchards. Gypsy tried to sue her but lost.

"I always expected Gypsy to lie - because she grew up being taught it was OK. But I didn't know the family would lie to me. But when the show came out, I saw more of the interrogation tape than I had been shown in Mommy Dearest. When I saw the full interrogation video, it changed everything. I kept waiting for Gypsy to say 'I was abused' but that never came. It was just four hours of lie after lie after lie. And she didn't miss a beat. When she saw they weren't buying one explanation, she came up with another. When they asked her 'Was Nick the one who did this?' She just flipped on a dime and it's like a switch came on, and she turned on him. It was shocking to me. I cried." Fancy Macelli

Since Fancy Macelli has Gypsy's medical records, she says she believes Gypsy did have medical issues i.e. a genetic chromosome disorder that doctors didn't have the technology yet to identify which chromosome, but which still would make Gypsy exhibit symptoms. And with a chromosome disorder, some things you grow out of, while others you still can take with you.

Macelli questions the distinction between a mom with munchhausen by Proxy and a mom who has a kid with a legitimate illness who decides to use that illness as a grift. They would obviously be completely different situations. "What it comes down to," says Macelli, "is was there medical child abuse?"

"She tested positive for type 2 fiber atrophy and around the same time had eye surgery for her esotropia that she was born with, which you could see - it's not just a lazy eye. She also tested for spinal lesions but it's hard to figure out what causes them. It's an abnormal growth of tissue. It could occur from some form of trauma but it could also be genetic."

From eyewitness testimonials, Gypsy would be in a wheelchair in public but would get up in private around other children.

"April 2, 2001 they do another thoracic spine lumbar cervical spine and brain MRI to find out what's going on. It comes back negative so the doctor says, 'It's not muscular dystrophy. But we don't know what it is.' We still have type 2 fiber atrophy. There's something causing this girl's legs to be weakened. We just don't know what it is yet."

"Dr. Robert Beckerman treated Gypsy for 10 years. When Dee Dee tried to get new doctors after the hurricane in Louisiana, it turns out there was a doctor who did retain some of the medical records. After settling in Springfield, Missouri, they saw their old friend Dr. Beckerman who said, 'Gypsy Rose is right where she needs to be, getting state of the art care."

Complicating matters is that the doctors treating Gypsy were never sued for malpractice.

Macelli also alleges Dr. Robert Steele committed medical fraud because he claimed he didn't have Gypsy's prior medical records due to Dee Dee losing them in the hurricane, but he did. And he used the excuse of supposedly not having them to treat conditions that Gypsy hadn't been tested positive on. Others speculate that Dr. Steele may have claimed after Dee Dee's murder that he lost the files in order cover his own miscalculations because he didn't feel what he was doing was wrong but that he was simply trying to placate a child who was already purported to have a medical issue - with symptoms that were legitimate but the causes uncertain i.e. the chromosome disorder. Gypsy also had some differing birth dates listed. Macelli says a big problem was Dr. Steele not sharing medical records with the other doctors. Macelli says Medicaid never went after Gypsy or her mother for fraud because everything done medically was necessary.

Gypsy killed her mom when she was 23. Police asked her if she needed help, she said no.