Faking Your Child's Illness - An Extreme Case

So, She Didn't Have Cancer!

Is it just me, or is the Miami Valley getting a lot more national news coverage lately? Here's what I mean:

Urbana, Ohio - Police say a mother tried to trick her daughter and the rest of the community into believing that her daughter had leukemia, even to the point of shaving her child's head, giving her sleeping pills, and putting her into counseling to prepare to die. Members of the community had donated money. The child has now been taken from her mother and placed into custody with other relatives.

from an MSNBC report (link no longer exists)

This situation reminds me of what happened in "The Sixth Sense". The one mother always added PineSol or other household cleaner to her daughter's soup. Could this be another case of Munchausen by Proxy?