scholarly journals MUNCHAUSEN SYNDROME BY PROXY – A REAL PEDIATRIC PROBLEM?

2015 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 252-258
Author(s):  
Daniela Pacurar ◽  
◽  
Maria Runcan ◽  
Anca Popescu ◽  
Gabriela Lesanu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Parent Education ◽  
Signs And Symptoms ◽  
Medical Personnel ◽  
Healthy Person ◽  
Medical Intervention ◽  
Diagnostic Process ◽  
Factitious Disorder ◽  
Munchausen Syndrome ◽  
Munchausen Syndrome By Proxy ◽  
Personal Benefit

Munchausen syndrome and Munchausen by proxy syndrome belong belong to a group of disease called “factitious disorder” and are severe mental disorders having the “end” position for a healthy person to become patient, respectively to “create” a disease to another person, asking or requiring medical intervention for him/her. Munchausen syndrome by proxy is rare, but it is difficult to be recognized and confirmed, is a form of abuse, particularly against children, potentially lethal, often misunderstood. Many methods are used by adults counterfeiters to induce a false child’s condition: poisoning, injury, producing bleeding, infection. Complaints exposed by the mothers as belonging to the child are not for a personal benefit, but are justified by a desire to be a “hero” mothers and to play the role of the people most attached and thoughtful of their child. Diagnosis should include evaluation of the child, parents and family and is based on suggestive elements: child with multiple health problems that do not respond to treatment or recur under proper therapy, laboratory investigations discrepancies, child’s signs and symptoms disappear in the absence of the parent. The false disease of the child, intentionally distorted described by adult, do not really affect him/her, but the diagnostic process and medical treatment can cause pain and discomfort. Ethical and legal issues associated with MSBP involves healthcare professionals by the medical consequences on the child as a result of false complains described by the parent. Education of patient, family and medical personnel is a very important step in the recognition, prevention and treatment of MSBP.

scholarly journals Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy as a Cause of Child Abuse

2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 103-110
Author(s):  
Youn Shin Kim ◽  
Jin Yu ◽  
Ha Ri Jeong ◽  
Kyoung-Won Ryu
Keyword(s):  
Child Abuse ◽  
Medical Personnel ◽  
Psychological Needs ◽  
Severe Form ◽  
Factitious Disorder ◽  
Munchausen Syndrome ◽  
Essential Information ◽  
Munchausen Syndrome By Proxy ◽  
History Of ◽  
Role Of Nursing

Munchausen syndrome by proxy (MSBP) is a rare form of mental disorder and is known as a particular type of child abuse. MSBP has been described since 1977 as a severe form of abuse with illness falsification or the intentional harming by guardians, mostly mothers. The perpetrator of MSBP may inflict damage to the child directly or indirectly through medical procedures. The perpetrator’s alleged motive is to satisfy her psychological needs, and she has a history of mental illness, mostly, factitious disorder, personality disorder, and somatic disorder. The pathology is not well known; as such, it is difficult for medical personnel to detect it early. In addition, it is hard to be handled effectively by the police and child welfare agencies because of the scarcity of evidence. Therefore, the authors attempt to examine the essential information from early detection and child abuse prevention by analyzing its clinical characteristics and the perpetrator’s characteristics, including alerting signs of MSBP. For this purpose, we focus on the role of nursing staff to detect this unusual cause of child abuse.

Factitious Disorders

2016 ◽  
pp. 288-305
Author(s):  
Brenda Bursch ◽  
Robert Haskell
Keyword(s):  
Medical Records ◽  
Good Faith ◽  
Factitious Disorder ◽  
Munchausen Syndrome ◽  
Factitious Disorders ◽  
Important Data ◽  
Munchausen Syndrome By Proxy ◽  
Psychiatric Illnesses ◽  
Assessment Procedures ◽  
Medical Symptoms

In Factitious Disorders, the patient exaggerates, fabricates, simulates, and/or induces symptoms of medical and/or psychiatric illnesses—in himself or in another person—with no concrete incentive beyond the pleasure, consolation, or status conferred by being a patient (or by being closely identified with a patient). This condition can go unrecognized for years, as most physicians assume that descriptions of medical symptoms are presented in good faith. Variations have sometimes been termed factitious disorder imposed on another or Munchausen syndrome by proxy. The secretive and sometimes criminal nature of these behaviors provides numerous barriers to research, but important data have been collected. After discussing the available research base of the factitious disorders, potential assessment procedures using medical records are detailed.

Munchausen syndrome by proxy (MSBP): a review regarding perpetrators of factitious disorder imposed on another (FDIA)

CNS Spectrums ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Nuzhat Abdurrachid ◽  
João Gama Marques
Keyword(s):  
Case Reports ◽  
Factitious Disorder ◽  
Munchausen Syndrome ◽  
Clinical Context ◽  
Rare Form ◽  
Munchausen Syndrome By Proxy ◽  
The Past ◽  
Living Together ◽  
Almost All

Abstract Munchausen syndrome by proxy (MSBP) is well-known to clinicians, but its usage is discouraged now in favor of other terms placing emphasis on the victim. This study aims to determine the most common characteristics of perpetrators but only in case reports labeled as MSBP, published in PubMed literature in the past 15 years. MSBP has been described as a rare form of abuse due to illness falsification, where the perpetrator usually receives the diagnosis of factitious disorder imposed on another (FDIA). We extracted data from 108 articles, including 81 case reports. Almost all perpetrators were female (91% female, 1% female and male, 7% unreported). Twenty-three cases (28%) had a perpetrator with psychiatric diagnosis: factitious disorder imposed on self (10%), depression (9%), and personality disorders (7%). In more than one-third (36%) there was familial conflict or abuse. Fourteen cases (17%) had perpetrators working in healthcare. The most common type of falsification was induction (74%); however, 15% of cases had more than one type of falsification. The most common outcomes were: separation (37%); no follow-up (22%); imprisonment (14%); death of victim (12%); treatment of the perpetrator (10%); continued living together (4%); and suicide of perpetrator (1%). Recurrence was present in more than three quarters of cases. Our results reiterate that awareness of the most common findings in MSBP allows physicians to identify them in a clinical context.

Cardiomyopathy From Ipecac Administration in Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 92 (4) ◽  
pp. 601-603
Author(s):  
JENS GOEBEL ◽  
DAVID A. GREMSE ◽  
MICHAEL ARTMAN
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Case Reports ◽  
Signs And Symptoms ◽  
The United States ◽  
Munchausen Syndrome ◽  
Munchausen Syndrome By Proxy ◽  
Term Basis

In the United States, serum of ipecac is the emetic of choice in poisoning victims if induction of vomiting is indicated. It is readily available without prescription and has been intentionally administered on a long-term basis in cases of self-abuse or abuse by caretakers. Signs and symptoms of chronic ipecac poisoning include protracted vomiting and diarrhea as well as skeletal and cardiac myopathy. We report two cases of ipecac cardiomyopathy due to Munchausen syndrome by proxy (MSBP) in children with longstanding vomiting and diarrhea. CASE REPORTS Case 1 At the age of 29 months, a white, previously healthy boy doveloped appendicitis and underwent appendectomy.

Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy Simulating Cystic Fibrosis

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 78 (4) ◽  
pp. 621-624
Author(s):  
David M. Orenstein ◽  
Abby L. Wasserman
Keyword(s):  
Cystic Fibrosis ◽  
Child Abuse ◽  
Laboratory Data ◽  
Medical Personnel ◽  
Munchausen Syndrome ◽  
Munchausen Syndrome By Proxy ◽  
Laboratory Results ◽  
Sweat Tests

The case of a child with apparent cystic fibrosis whose many signs, symptoms, and laboratory results were convincingly portrayed by his mother is presented. The mother falsified the history, and cunningly altered sweat tests and stool fat analyses, and stole sputum from patients with cystic fibrosis to make her child appear to have cystic fibrosis. This case of Munchausen syndrome by proxy highlights the extent to which the diagnosis of cystic fibrosis rests on reliable history and laboratory data and emphasizes the extremes to which perpetrators of this form of child abuse may go to make their case. Medical personnel must educate civil authorities about this syndrome and the dangers it represents to the child.

An Unusual Case of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy

1991 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 422-425 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toni Single ◽  
Richard Leigh Henry
Keyword(s):  
Cystic Fibrosis ◽  
Medical History ◽  
Diagnostic Test ◽  
Unusual Case ◽  
Medical Personnel ◽  
Sweat Test ◽  
Munchausen Syndrome ◽  
Munchausen Syndrome By Proxy ◽  
History Of

An 11-year-old boy was presented by his father with a long and plausible history of cystic fibrosis. The diagnostic test for cystic fibrosis, the sweat test, was normal and excluded the diagnosis. The medical history was later found to be false, and the child to be well. By definition, the case met the criteria for Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy with fabrication of symptoms on behalf of another in order to deceive medical personnel. Unusual features included the illness chosen, the father as the parent falsifying illness, his failure to pursue unnecessary investigations and treatment, and the ease with which he relinquished the diagnosis of cystic fibrosis.

Diagnosis and Treatment of the Factitious Disorder on Another, Previously Called Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (6) ◽  
pp. 419-433 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Lopez-Rico ◽  
J. J. Lopez-Ibor ◽  
D. Crespo-Hervas ◽  
A. Muñoz-Villa ◽  
J. L. Jimenez-Hernandez
Keyword(s):  
Diagnosis And Treatment ◽  
Factitious Disorder ◽  
Munchausen Syndrome ◽  
Munchausen Syndrome By Proxy

scholarly journals Munchausen syndrome by proxy

2005 ◽  
Vol 133 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 173-179
Author(s):  
Aleksandar Jovanovic ◽  
Vesna Popovic ◽  
Slobodan Savic ◽  
Djordje Alempijevic ◽  
Nada Jankovic
Keyword(s):  
Specific Treatment ◽  
Factitious Disorder ◽  
Munchausen Syndrome ◽  
Munchausen Syndrome By Proxy ◽  
Factitious Disorder By Proxy ◽  
Mental Symptoms ◽  
Icd 10 ◽  
Diagnostic Difficulties ◽  
Pathological Behavior ◽  
External Incentives

This review deals with bibliography on Munchausen syndrome by proxy (MSbP). The name of this disorder was introduced by English psychiatrist Roy Meadow who pointed to diagnostic difficulties as well as to serious medical and legal connotations of MSbP. MSbP was classified in DSM-IV among criteria sets provided for further study as "factitious disorder by proxy", while in ICD-10, though not explicitly cited, MSbP might be classified as "factitious disorders" F68.1. MSbP is a special form of abuse where the perpetrator induces somatic or mental symptoms of illness in the victim under his/her care and then persistently presents the victims for medical examinations and care. The victim is usually a preschool child and the perpetrator is the child's mother. Motivation for such pathological behavior of perpetrator is considered to be unconscious need to assume sick role by proxy while external incentives such as economic gain are absent. Conceptualization of MSbP development is still in the domain of psychodynamic speculation, its course is chronic and the prognosis is poor considering lack of consistent, efficient and specific treatment. The authors also present the case report of thirty-three year-old mother who had been abusing her nine year-old son both emotionally and physically over the last several years forcing him to, together with her, report to the police, medical and educational institutions that he had been the victim of rape, poisoning and beating by various individuals, especially teaching and medical staff. Mother manifested psychosis and her child presented with impaired cognitive development, emotional problems and conduct disorder.

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