A mental disorder in which someone tries to get hospital treatment for someone else such as their child or an elderly relative. It is regarded as a form of child abuse, as the person may cause a child to be ill in order to receive attention.
Munchausen syndrome by proxy (MSBP), a member of the family of factitious disorders, shares certain features with Munchausen syndrome and is considered a special form of child abuse. The most common element is the tendency for people to fabricate or produce physical or psychological symptoms in order to assume the patient role and gain the attention, care, and special grace that may come with this role. The name itself derives from Baron von Munchausen, a notorious 18th-century teller of tall tales.
Condition in which a person presents himself/herself repeatedly, often to multiple hospitals, with what appears to be an acute illness. The complaints are often realistic and somewhat dramatic in nature, but no clinical evidence of disease is ever found.
The fabrication of symptoms or physical evidence of another’s illness, or the deliberate causing of another’s illness, to gain medical attention.