MUNCHAUSEN SYNDROME BY PROXY: The Potential for Medical Profession to be Co-Participants in Child Abuse.

A father brings his young son to the doctor for prescription medications because the father suspects that the son has "classic" attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.The  mother relates to the hospital emergency room with  a history of multiple respiratory, gastro-intestinal and musculo-skeletal symptoms from which her child was suffering and insists that  the child be "hospitalized" for a "complete workup".  A basic workup in the emergency room discloses no disease, the child was not admitted but the mother was told to have followup with a pediatrician.  She returns to the emergency room two days later with the child and more symptoms, requesting the child's admission but having not attempted to visit a pediatrician.A mother brings a child to the pediatrician because the child has been losing weight.  According to the mother,  multiple food allergies was suspected by the family and the child's diet was markedly reduced (starving) in order to prevent symptoms.The mother brings a child to a pediatrician pointing at the multiple bruising over the child's body  and giving a history that the child was having recent repeated nosebleeds.  The  physician's examination finds the nasal passages to be normal and the bruises have more the appearance that they were due to trauma and not spontaneous.What you have read are various degrees of clinical appearances of a condition known as "Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy"(MSP).  The defin...
Source: Bioethics Discussion Blog - Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Source Type: blogs