Kathleen,
What you describe may be a form of Munchausen's (sp?) Syndrome by Proxy,
in which the mother is constantly dragging her child to the doctor with all
sorts of symptoms and illnesses, many of them inflicted by the mother
herself. By gaining all sorts of attention and sympathy for her child's
myriad of medical disorders, the mother gets attention for herself, by
proxy. Might be the case with Anne Robb's situation.
Sara Reuning in Bristol, TN