Did the Cerda Family Con 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition' Into ...

With all the heartwarming do-gooding shown on ABC's 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,' it's inevitable that con artists would want in on the action. According to E! Online, one family succeeded in fleecing the network.

E! alleges that the Cerda family, who appeared on the show in March 2009, conned ABC into building them a fancy new home specially equipped with air filtration systems for their two ailing daughters, who suffer from combined immunodeficiency disease. The problem: the daughters may not be sick after all.

The family moved from Las Vegas to Oregon, allegedly because they couldn't keep up with house payments and medical bills. According to a comprehensive report in The Oregonian, the Cerdas tried to assemble a new medical team in their new hometown, but doctors there didn't find anything wrong with the girls. In fact, they were so skeptical that they reported the Cerdas to child welfare services, who then took custody of the children.

A legal battle ensued, in which six different doctors testified against mother Terri Cerda, saying the girls were not sick and accusing her of having Munchausen by Proxy syndrome. Though no doctors testified on Cerda's behalf, The Oregonian reports that a pediatrician at UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center confirmed that the children had been diagnosed with Primary Immune Deficiency Disease.

Cerda told The Oregonian that several medical documents the family submitted to the court were refused as evidence. "We have several hundred pages of medical documents that prove our kids have been diagnosed with immune deficiency disease since they were four years old," she said. "We saw doctors that were top notch in the world. The kids have been tested, and you can't lie about lab work."

Even with all the back and forth, the judge found father Chuck Cerda a fit enough parent to release the girls back into the care of their family. Terri and the girls are now back in Las Vegas with their original team of doctors.

There are several problems with this story, not the least of which is the fact that despite ABC's integral role in the story (i.e., there wouldn't be one without the TV show) no one from The Oregonian reached out to the network, which has aired 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition' for the past eight scam-free seasons, to comment.

So why now? Why this family? People move all the time, for many reasons -- selling an 'Extreme Makeover' house might sound crazy, but it's hardly against the law. In The Oregonian piece, the writer does admit that parents are occasionally branded with the Munchausen label when children appear healthy one day and sick another, and "some psychiatrists and psychologists agree ... that doctors and child welfare workers are sometimes too quick to judge."

AOL TV asked ABC to comment, but they're not dignifying this story with a response. The underlying message we're getting from them, though, is that the allegations have some major holes. So, take the story with a grain of salt.

Watch the house tour here:

Source: http://www.tvsquad.com/2011/05/18/cerda-family-extreme-makeover-home-edition-scam/

ampersand ovarian cancer blackhawks ovarian cancer symptoms new kids on the block