You should include an introduction which will state what you know (if you have any prior knowledge) about MSbP prior to this assignment.
•Do some research and tell me about MSbP.
•Did you learn anything you didn’t know before…or is all of this ‘old hat’ to you?
•Do you know anyone who has committed MSbP or was a victim of MSbP?
•What are some problems diagnosing this illness? Is it ever confused with anything else?
•What are the chances of getting a prosecution on this type of case?
•What is the evidence?
•How it is investigated?
•And then…wrap up in a conclusion ….did you learn anything?
•You may compare MSbP and Munchausen syndrome in the body of your paper (if you would like). What is the difference?
plagiarism free

You will need to cite your references. Wikipedia is not a source of scholarly information, and neither is Pink Monkey (cliff notes website). If you use a web site as a reference, please be sure you know how to do that. The writer’s handbook recognizes the use of web site resources, and there is an example in the book to show you how to do that (if you need to brush up).

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