What is Munchausen By Proxy : It is a form of child abuse, in which the primary care giver induces an illness upon their own child willingly to gain the attention and sympathy of doctors. OR the primary cargiver falsifies information to the doctor and claims their child is sick when the child isn't.
A year ago I had such a case, and this post is dedicated to all practitioners or folks who want to be able to idenitfy the signs.
Signs for practitioners
1.) Primary caregiver comes to you in desperation, pleading with you to help them, drawing upon your empathy
2.) They have been to multiple pracititoners, then dump them
3.) Primary caregiver will not allow you to talk to the patient, unless it is through them
4.) No matter what therapy they try nothing works (that's key)
5.) Refuses to follow advice that would clearly make the patient better
6.) Primary caregiver tries to avert the conversation from the suffering child to them! The primary caregiver starts to talk about their suffering and how sick they are, until eventually the entire focus is upon them.
7.) Primary caregiver and child are in a relationship where it is not easy for the child to leave the situation and go elsewhere, OR if you suggest it, it will be refused.
8.) The patient doesn't have to be a child, can be an adult.
Note: keep in mind that the goal of the primary care giver is to keep their child ill, and to elicit sympathy and attention from you.
How to Solve this Dilemma.
I think we can all agree that doing nothing isn't an option, or that accusing a caregiver of willingly hurting their dependent is equally unappealing. My advice based on my experience is NOT to tell the primary caregiver or the child (even if they are an adult), but to inform other practitioners that they work with that you suspect a Manchausen by Proxy Case. Get the primary caregiver to give you their MD's phone number and contact information and every other practitioner they are seeing. Usually MD's have a greater opportunity of diagnosing the case and so it can be taken to court. OR in your intake form ask the patient to disclose other pracititoners they are seeing with their name and contact information. This way you can call them discreetly.
Based on my experience the patient is usually extremely codependent, abused, beaten down and catatonic. Suggesting to them they are in this situation will be overly traumatic for them. For them, they feel all they have is the caregiver and nobody else. So trying to take that away will be devastating.
The way that professionals attempt to prove a Munchausen by Proxy case, is to remove the child from the care of the parent and see if the child improves.
Hope this helps,
Lindsay Tietz, BSc, HD
Owner Intention to Heal
Homeopathic Medicine Practitioner and Holistic Nutrition Expert
Proudly Serving The Toronto Danforth Area Directly
What is Munchausen By Proxy : It is a form of child abuse, in which the primary care giver induces an illness upon their own child willingly to gain the attention and sympathy of doctors. OR the primary cargiver falsifies information to the doctor and claims their child is sick when the child isn't.
A year ago I had such a case, and this post is dedicated to all practitioners or folks who want to be able to idenitfy the signs.
1.) Primary caregiver comes to you in desperation, pleading with you to help them, drawing upon your empathy
2.) They have been to multiple pracititoners, then dump them
3.) Primary caregiver will not allow you to talk to the patient, unless it is through them
4.) No matter what therapy they try nothing works (that's key)
5.) Refuses to follow advice that would clearly make the patient better
6.) Primary caregiver tries to avert the conversation from the suffering child to them! The primary caregiver starts to talk about their suffering and how sick they are, until eventually the entire focus is upon them.
7.) Primary caregiver and child are in a relationship where it is not easy for the child to leave the situation and go elsewhere, OR if you suggest it, it will be refused.
8.) The patient doesn't have to be a child, can be an adult.
Note: keep in mind that the goal of the primary care giver is to keep their child ill, and to elicit sympathy and attention from you.
How to Solve this Dilemma.
I think we can all agree that doing nothing isn't an option, or that accusing a caregiver of willingly hurting their dependent is equally unappealing. My advice based on my experience is NOT to tell the primary caregiver or the child (even if they are an adult), but to inform other practitioners that they work with that you suspect a Manchausen by Proxy Case. Get the primary caregiver to give you their MD's phone number and contact information and every other practitioner they are seeing. Usually MD's have a greater opportunity of diagnosing the case and so it can be taken to court. OR in your intake form ask the patient to disclose other pracititoners they are seeing with their name and contact information. This way you can call them discreetly.
Based on my experience the patient is usually extremely codependent, abused, beaten down and catatonic. Suggesting to them they are in this situation will be overly traumatic for them. For them, they feel all they have is the caregiver and nobody else. So trying to take that away will be devastating.
The way that professionals attempt to prove a Munchausen by Proxy case, is to remove the child from the care of the parent and see if the child improves.
Hope this helps,
Lindsay Tietz, BSc, HD
Owner Intention to Heal
Homeopathic Medicine Practitioner and Holistic Nutrition Expert
Proudly Serving The Toronto Danforth Area Directly