Munchausen Syndrome By Proxy Essay

The term Munchausen syndrome by Proxy was originally coined by Meadow in (1977), to describe a situation in which a caregiver "creates factitious symptoms or signs in order to mislead the physician into believing the child is ill" (Blumenthal, 106). Meadow (2002) further defines Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy,

The children had incurred numerous needles and painful hospital admissions, investigations, and procedures because of a false story and factitious signs...the falsification was not by the patient themselves but by another person "acting on their behalf" which is a proxy (502).

Under the law, Munchausen's by proxy is considered a form of child maltreatment, as it "entails having inflicted harm upon a child by a caretaker and thus meets the criteria for child maltreatment established by the child abuse and neglect laws" (Perry & Joy, 151). An editorial in The Journal of Child Abuse &

For someone to feel so isolated proves that we do not have enough social programs and resources to prevent this from happening, or that people are unaware of these resources. I very much agree with Eminson & Jureidini (2003)'s prevention program, which detects somatization in parents and their children.

Works Cited

Blumenthal, Ivan (1994). Child Abuse: A handbook for healthcare practitioners. Great Britain: Edward Arnold Press.

Elsevier Science Ltd. (2003) (E.d.) Munchausen by Proxy maltreatment: an international challenge. Child Abuse & Neglect 27 p. 409-411.

Eminson, Mary & Jureidini, Jon (2003). Concerns about research and prevention strategies in Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy (MSBP abuse). Child Abuse & Neglect 27 p.413-420.

Goodman, Berney (1994). When the body speaks its mind. New York: G.P Putnam's sons Publishing.

Meadow, Roy (2002). Different interpretations of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. Child Abuse & Neglect, 26 p.