Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy: The Need for Service Integration

Baron Karl Frederick Van Munchausen was famous throughout Europe in the 18th century for tales of his adventures which were of doubtful authenticity. In 1951 the term Munchausen syndrome was coined to describe adults who fabricated histories of illness, produced false physical signs and laboratory findings to deceive doctors and receive unwarranted medical treatment and operations. Munchausen syndrome by proxy was first described by Dr. Roy Meadow (1977) as a form of child abuse in which an illness is fabricated in a child by a parent.