Criminal Investigation
Name of Student
Name of Institution
Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy
According to Medical Plus, Munchausen syndrome by proxy (MSbP) is both a mental illness and a calculated form of child abuse. It occurs when the person entrusted with the care of a child, usually the mother or the babysitter, either comes up with fake or real symptoms to misrepresent a child’s sickness. It is not really clear what causes (MSbP). Sometimes the victim suffered an abuse at childhood or has faked the illness for himself or herself (Medical Plus, 2014). Caregivers can go to any extent to induce (MSbP) in a child as follows:
Add blood to the urine or stool of the child
Withhold or reduce a child’s feeding so that the child loses weight
Fabricate lab results
Heat up thermometers to misrepresent a child’s fever
Administer drugs to the child so that the child diarrheas or vomits
Notable signs of guilty caretakers have been documented. The caretakers often appear so devoted to the child’s health that it is hard to suspect they are behind the ordeal. Moreover, most of these caretakers know much about medical care and work in hospitals mostly. Therefore, they can describe the medical problem satisfactorily (Medical Plus, 2014). Children suffering from MSbP often make multiple rounds to the hospital. They have been tested and operated on many times. Moreover, the diagnosed symptoms cannot be attributed to any disease. The mother often reports the symptoms. In addition, blood samples rarely match the child’s blood group. Many a times chemicals and drugs appear in the child’s urine, stool or blood samples (Medical Plus, 2014).
Early this year, Lacey Spears, a middle-aged woman was charged with first-degree manslaughter and second-degree murder in New York. The woman allegedly fed her son copious amounts of salt following her extensive online research that revealed the potential effects of excessive consumption of salt. She became motivated by the fame and attention she received on social media. The defendant denied the charges. The case is still underway (Bever, 2014).
References
Bever, L. (2014). Woman accused of fatally poisoning son in Munchausen case. Retrieved 24
October 2014 from HYPERLINK “http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/06/18/woman-pleads-not-guilty-to-poisoning-her-5-year-old-son-to-death/” http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/06/18/woman-pleads-not-guilty-to-poisoning-her-5-year-old-son-to-death/
Medical Plus (2014). Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. Retrieved 24 October 2014 from
HYPERLINK “http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001555.htm” http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001555.htm
