Factitious Disorder Imposed on Another

Factitious disorder imposed on another, also known as fabricated or induced illness by carers or medical child abuse, and originally named Munchausen syndrome by proxy after Munchausen syndrome, describes a situation in which a caregiver, typically the victim's parent, creates the appearance of health problems in another person, most often their own child, though occasionally an adult partner; the caregiver may alter test samples, injure the victim, falsify diagnoses, or use contrived photographs or videos, sometimes resulting in permanent physical or psychological injury or the victim's death. The condition's causes are generally unknown, but physicians and mental health professionals often associate it with a caregiver's own history of childhood trauma such as neglect, emotional deprivation or abuse, with the primary believed motive being a desire for attention and sympathy, sometimes alongside financial gain; management typically requires removing the affected child from the caregiver's custody, and the condition was first named Munchausen syndrome by proxy in 1977 by the British pediatrician Roy Meadow, with more than ninety percent of cases involving a person's mother.