# Faking illness becomming common



## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

A couple of articles to read ...

http://www.theprovince.com/health/Doctors+alert+rare+form+child+abuse/8837274/story.html

*Doctors on the alert for rare form of child abuse*



> Doctors need to be alert for signs of a form of abuse in which a parent fabricates illness in a child and exposes them to unnecessary and potentially harmful tests and treatments, the American Academy of Pediatrics says.
> 
> Because it is relatively rare, caregiver-fabricated illness in a child is often unrecognized by health professionals, said Dr. Harriet Mac-Millan, who co-authored a report on the subject for the AAP, which appears in the journal Pediatrics.
> 
> ...


http://www.lfpress.com/2013/08/26/c...s-in-children-more-common-than-thought-report

*Caregiver-fabricated illness in children more common than thought: Report *



> A new Canadian report warns doctors to be on the lookout for a relatively uncommon but still potentially deadly form of child abuse: Parents or caregivers who fabricate illnesses in children then create symptoms.
> 
> "Pediatricians need to be suspicious when they see a child with a persistent or recurrent illness that can't be explained, especially where the signs or symptoms do not seem credible," wrote the report's co-author, Dr. Harriet MacMillan, of Hamilton, Ont.'s McMaster University.
> 
> ...


Your thoughts? Are people really faking an illness in children - and if so - why?


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## dixiemama (Nov 28, 2012)

Absolutely they do. My psychology term paper was on this condition. During the 50's, a woman had every single one of her children die from unexplained causes. The docs got suspicious, kept one daughter in the hospital for over a year, and after she was taken home by her parents, died soon after. The woman died a few years back. 

Its mainly due to the parent losing their identity; they are no longer X, they are Y's parent. To turn the focus back to them (I'm so sorry your child is sick; YOU must be exhausted/hungry/etc.), they make their kids sick. Often, illnesses disappear once the kids are old enough to speak for themselves. It is also common among caregivers of disabled children and the elderly.


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## stayingthegame (Mar 22, 2011)

it's called Munchausen by proxy. the other is called "disability by fraud".


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## Sentry18 (Aug 5, 2012)

We need to start treating child abuse like a capital offense. You get more time for a smuggling a condom full of cocaine than you do for poisoning a child. If you kill your child so you can get more attention you should sit on old sparky and cook.


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## brightstar (Apr 24, 2012)

This is very close and personal for me. I have an amazing 3.5 yr old stepdaughter that I've been in her life since she was 10 months old. Over the past years, her mom has exhibited signs of hypochondria, Münchausen and Münchausen by proxy. We have her on the weekends and she's never sick, not a cough, sniffly nose, literally perfect health. But at her mom's during the week, there's always something wrong. She has strep, stomach bug, etc. Her mother hasn't worked in 2 years bc of "ailments" too. She claims migraines but goes and sits in sun to tan, heart condition but no heart dr or meds, insomnia but she sleeps all the time, and knee problems to the point of faking a surgery. She posts everything on FB to get the attention and sympathy. We've brought this up in court several times bc we are afraid for stepdaughters well being and safety, they say nothing they can do bc too hard to prove Münchausen. It's the hardest mental illness to diagnose and she is very good at deception and manipulation. We live in fear for my step daughter everyday just so her mom can get a few comments and "poor you". Our psychological examiner who first brought this up said its most likely stemming from her never maturing because she was handed everything, always the center of attention, and manipulation to get what she wants. Even in school, she would claim all kinds of health problems that never panned out. Too bad nothing will get done unless a tragedy occurs.


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## ksmama10 (Sep 17, 2012)

brightstar said:


> This is very close and personal for me. I have an amazing 3.5 yr old stepdaughter that I've been in her life since she was 10 months old. Over the past years, her mom has exhibited signs of hypochondria, Münchausen and Münchausen by proxy. We have her on the weekends and she's never sick, not a cough, sniffly nose, literally perfect health. But at her mom's during the week, there's always something wrong. She has strep, stomach bug, etc. Her mother hasn't worked in 2 years bc of "ailments" too. She claims migraines but goes and sits in sun to tan, heart condition but no heart dr or meds, insomnia but she sleeps all the time, and knee problems to the point of faking a surgery. She posts everything on FB to get the attention and sympathy. We've brought this up in court several times bc we are afraid for stepdaughters well being and safety, they say nothing they can do bc too hard to prove Münchausen. It's the hardest mental illness to diagnose and she is very good at deception and manipulation. We live in fear for my step daughter everyday just so her mom can get a few comments and "poor you". Our psychological examiner who first brought this up said its most likely stemming from her never maturing because she was handed everything, always the center of attention, and manipulation to get what she wants. Even in school, she would claim all kinds of health problems that never panned out. Too bad nothing will get done unless a tragedy occurs.


Is it possible to alert the child's primary care provider to be watchful? Or does the mom take her to different places for care? This is a very frightening situation!


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## brightstar (Apr 24, 2012)

ksmama10 said:


> Is it possible to alert the child's primary care provider to be watchful? Or does the mom take her to different places for care? This is a very frightening situation!


My husband tried she takes his daughter to a general family dr that is his ex's doc as well. When my husband mentioned the no symptoms at our house vs her house the dr literally laughed at him and said that was an issue between the 2 of them and didn't involve him. Grrr. He's an over prescribing quack anyway, prob why she goes there. She's taken his daughter to 4 different ent dr's in last 2 years wanting her tonsils removed. My husband goes to every dr appt that she tells him about (whole other issue) and every ent has said there's nothing wrong with his daughter. When she was 2 yrs old she was on Zyrtec, Zantac, and amoxicillin all at the same time bc her mom thought her voice sounded raspy. Nope, not raspy just her normal voice. First ent took her off of all the meds that had been prescribed by her general dr.


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## kappydell (Nov 27, 2011)

Some people will do ANYTHING for attention. They need flogging...if that was the only result, they would quit looking for it.
Not to mention in the 'entitlement world' it is reason for celebration if your child is declared incurably ill....it entitles them to free medical care (caregivers get an extra bed wheeled into the hotel-like hospital room & sometimes free meals, esp. if they don't mind eating off the child's tray); free medications (the caregiver administers them and gets to skim some for private use or sale); social security disability money (administered, of course, by the caregiver, who skims a 'fee'); and if you can act really pitiful, you can then go parade the child around for freebies from churches, organizations, and maybe even get on the evening news and get a shot at TV fame, and perhaps a (pity) donation fund set up. All for the 'sake' of the child, of course.
The poverty pimps of yore have just put on new faces. Now they pimp pity. 
After 26 yrs as an LEO I am no longer shocked by depravity...just saddened and repulsed by it. I also enjoy exposing these frauds whenever I find them.


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## Meerkat (May 31, 2011)

You'd be amazed if you knew how much money kids with learning disabilities bring in. Put the kid on ritilin or some other mind altering drug and collect from SSD.


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## drfacefixer (Mar 8, 2013)

Sentry18 said:


> We need to start treating child abuse like a capital offense. You get more time for a smuggling a condom full of cocaine than you do for poisoning a child. If you kill your child so you can get more attention you should sit on old sparky and cook.


Last time I tried to smuggle cocaine in a condom, my twanger was numb for a week. Am I doing it wrong?


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## Jim1590 (Jul 11, 2012)

Bright star, I feel for you. Years ago when my ex and I split, she dropped "hints" to everyone. "You know, it's funny how Jake keeps having nightmares after time with daddy..... where is that little bruise from" things like that. Of course both boys were too young to speak for themselves, she did same routine to their doc, pointing at a small bruise on his leg. (What 4 year old boy does not have a leg full of black and blues?) doc did correct thing and reported it. I actually still use same doc for newest kid. Well dcyf came through and talked to me and my parents. I gave the investigator pictures of black eyes and a cigarette burn one of them had. He looked me in the eye and said "I am not here for that"

So you can blame the dad all day long and courts believe it, but try a saying mom is doing something bad and you are laughed at.

Now 6 years later, I still have to keep letter fro, dcyf saying complaint was baseless in case she trays the crap again!


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## dixiemama (Nov 28, 2012)

My sis in law fits the textbook profile for the condition. She will eat WAY too much of food she is allergic to just to make herself sick for the pity. When her son was born (33 weeks gestation, stroke that necessitated the right side of his brain removed) she wld call us from Lexington (2 hours away) 'Bub's not doing good, O2 is low, shows signs of infection, etc.' and we all would rush to get there. My husband and I left work early and on such short notice so many times we are lucky we weren't fired all to find out he's fine. 

He set up pneumonia and she waited 4 days before taking him to doc then waited another 3 to give him the meds (wanted to get a 'baseline'). She gave him one dose, the pneumonia was so bad that he never recovered. He was 26 days old. 

Now, it's all about her; her stomach hurts, migraines, blood pressure probs, you name it. Any meds she is prescribed go untaken (hence Bub's stroke) just for extra pity. 

She has the option of adopting 2 babies next spring (her husbands cousins are in jail for drugs and won't get out in time to keep them) and she has agreed to take them. CPS will be doing a home study and interview with us all and I will NOT hide my opinions just because my in laws think 'it was just the stress of it all'.


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## Sybil6 (Jan 28, 2013)

One of my best friends and her little brother had their mom do this to them. She would be taken to doctors and taken to the E.R. and tell the nurse that she was just cramping and her mom would go off "Oh, she just doesn't want me to pay the E.R. bill. It's really bad! I think it's her appendix!" and she would have to get a bunch of scans and got put on a bunch of medicine. It got to the point that she was on so many drugs that when she would go to sleep, she wouldn't wake up for hours and hours and hours. I told her to start cheeking her pills, and when she did and she stopped with the sleeping disorder, she raised Cain with her doctors and they took her off everything! But her brother is completely brainwashed into believing he has ADD, and ADHD, and all this other crap. And it was all so that her mom could draw a check off of them!


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## boomer (Jul 13, 2011)

So which is likely more often true. Mom's looking for attention and the kid is really fine OR the kid is truly unwell and the medical/education people think the kid is fine and Mom is looking for attention.

Given the medical incidence of Mom being the problem and the disinclination of welfare/medical insurance to take on new disability claims I would think that children with untreated disabilities are more common.


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## Wellrounded (Sep 25, 2011)

Sentry18 said:


> We need to start treating child abuse like a capital offense. You get more time for a smuggling a condom full of cocaine than you do for poisoning a child. If you kill your child so you can get more attention you should sit on old sparky and cook.


Yep I agree. But by whos' definition. Having your child outside without shoes on is child abuse by some. So is refusing vaccines....


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## tsrwivey (Dec 31, 2010)

kappydell said:


> Not to mention in the 'entitlement world' it is reason for celebration if your child is declared incurably ill....it entitles them to free medical care (caregivers get an extra bed wheeled into the hotel-like hospital room & sometimes free meals, esp. if they don't mind eating off the child's tray)


 Where did you get this information??? To correct all the inaccurate information in your post would take more time, energy, & effort than I have this morning but let's just say you're wrong to the point of being offensive. Most parents with chronically ill kids love their kids just as much as you love yours, want the same future for their kid as you want for yours, & would give anything for their kid to be healthy.

Have you actually spent even one night in the hospital with anyone, let alone a sick kid? Have you ever tended to a sick kid around the clock? You realize kids on strong antibiotics usually have diarrhea with it & kids on other strong medicines usually vomit? People are in & out of a hospital room around the clock every 1-2 hours, there is no rest. Have you actually eaten hospital food? Maybe heard a joke or two about it? Just so you know, most hospitals don't have extra beds. Parents sleep on a chair that unfolds flat. Its about 2 foot wide & my feet hang off (I'm 5' 3") & there's only one. If you're lucky, they have a fold out couch.

That has been my experience in hospitals with children, not sure what hotel you've been staying at that was like that. :scratch

Really, messing with incurably ill children makes you look trashy.


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## TheLazyL (Jun 5, 2012)

Sounds like my neighbor's wife.

Grossly overweight (by choice) and her nose in everyone's business.

At least once a month a ambulance call and a few times a year the police.

If you see her coming RUN! Any hesitation on your part and you will be cornered. Told (again) her life's perceived medical conditions (overweight is not one of them) for the next few hours. Then she'll start pumping you for your personal information.

Craves attention. But her actions just pushed people away.


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

Wellrounded said:


> Yep I agree. But by whos' definition. Having your child outside without shoes on is child abuse by some. So is refusing vaccines....


Outside barefoot in winter or outside barefoot in summer?

This is me - barefoot ...:teehee:


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## TheLazyL (Jun 5, 2012)

Wellrounded said:


> Yep I agree. But by whos' definition. Having your child outside without shoes on is child abuse by some. So is refusing vaccines....


I've seen teenagers waling into Wall-Mart when the temperature in the 20's (F). Shorts, flip flops and no coat. Guess the Parents could be in trouble...


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## boomer (Jul 13, 2011)

NaeKid, you are the picture of prime of life good health. Not all of us can say that. LOL So is my Mother in her mid 90's. LOL and there is no way anyone in the family even tries to keep up with her. She does not relate to not feeling well either.


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## Moose33 (Jan 1, 2011)

Sentry18 said:


> We need to start treating child abuse like a capital offense. You get more time for a smuggling a condom full of cocaine than you do for poisoning a child. If you kill your child so you can get more attention you should sit on old sparky and cook.


Sentry, I have yet to see one of your posts I do not agree with. However, in this case you sir are entirely too kind. 
Moose


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## boomer (Jul 13, 2011)

I entirely agree with capital punishment for a select number of crimes, however, I do not trust the current system to accurately determine who is and who is not guilty. Seems too many cases are politically rather than factually determined.

And then there is the whole adolescent thing. What is child abuse and what is teenage perpetration. And who exactly gets to figure out which is which? And those who do not nor have not had teenagers have way too much to say about it.


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