Death of Olivia Gant
Olivia K. Gant was a 7-year-old American girl who died after ongoing medical abuse by her mother, Kelly Renee Turner-Gant, in what was deemed to be a case of Munchausen by proxy. Turner-Gant had initially taken the girl to the hospital for a case of severe constipation; after this was treated successfully and Gant was sent home, Turner-Gant claimed that Gant was unable to consume food, leading to numerous surgeries, the implementation of feeding tubes, and finally an intravenous tube that fed nutrients directly into her veins.
The constant hospital visits and surgeries left Gant at times in a wheelchair and bedridden, weakened by an anti-seizure medication that Turner-Gant had convinced a doctor to prescribe her. Gant's death occurred after Turner-Gant swapped Gant's usual doctors, who had refused to sign a do not resuscitate order for the girl, for another doctor willing to sign the order. This allowed Turner-Gant to have all of Gant's feeding tubes removed. Gant was placed in hospice care, where she died from apparent intestinal failure on August 20, 2017. Turner-Gant, who by then went by the name Kelly Turner, was convicted of child abuse in 2022 and sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Early life
Olivia K. Gant was born in Pasadena, Texas, where she resided with her mother, two sisters and father. Gant's parents had a difficult marriage, although Gant was close with a beloved relative, step-grandfather Lonnie Gautreau, who recalled her being "a loving child; she just had a great imagination and loved playing with her dolls." After moving to Colorado, Kelly Turner-Gant would actively take photographs of Gant, mostly related to the girl's hospital visits, and share them online with viewers. Gant would be dressed in Disney merchandise and surrounded by plush animals, often lying in bed or sitting upright in a wheelchair.Medical abuse
In 2012, Turner-Gant brought Gant to Children's Hospital Colorado for treatment related to severe constipation. Although the treatment was successful, Turner-Gant soon returned, reporting that Gant was unable to consume food properly. Gant underwent multiple surgeries for this reported problem, including one surgery where her small intestine was rerouted through her large intestine, taking away feces from a bag affixed to her stomach. Gant was kept on heavy narcotic drugs over a five-year period that followed for most of her remaining life, and was taken to over 1,000 documented hospital visits prior to her death.In addition to the medical abuse, Turner-Gant would tell her friends that Gant was terminally ill, and used sympathy to scam various charity organizations. She would post Gant's "bucket list" of things her daughter wanted to do before she died. With the aid of the Make-a-Wish Foundation and other local groups, this included an elaborate bat-themed princess party. Other events were established where Gant would get to pretend to be a firefighter and police officer. It is believed that Turner-Gant scammed various organizations and individuals out of over $500,000; Christopher Gallo, speaking for the prosecution during Turner-Gant's trial, stated that Turner-Gant had engaged in "the perpetration of hundreds of thousands of dollars of fraud on organizations whose only purpose in this world is to help sick kids and families in need."
Gant had three different types of feeding tubes surgically implanted at different points, as well as being kept on a strong anti-seizure medication. No doctor had ever witnessed her having a seizure, but Turner-Gant convinced the prescribing doctor that the medication was necessary. Turner-Gant then also had her daughter given intravenous nutrition, arguing that the other feeding tube methods were failing to work.