NCJ Number
194959
Journal
Child Maltreatment Volume: 7 Issue: 2 Dated: May 2002 Pages: 125-131
Date Published
2002
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This article examines the clinical impression that allergies, asthma, sinopulmonary infections, and ENT surgery are a common aspect of pediatric condition falsification (PCF), a form of child abuse.
Abstract
Pediatric condition falsification (PCF) is a form of child abuse where an adult falsifies physical and/or psychological signs and/or symptoms in a child causing the victim to be seen as ill or impaired. Through an evaluation, this article attempts to explain why asthma, allergies, sinopulmonary infections, drug reactions, and ENT surgery are so common in PCF. The study identified victims of PCF from outpatient clinics of and admitted to the Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle, Washington serving the State regions of Washington, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho. During 24 years of practice and consultation, 104 victims of PCF were identified from 68 families. Results indicated that PCF victims suffered a variety of illness fabrications. These involved episodic illnesses for which diagnosis was usually more dependent on clinical history than on objective signs and symptoms. These children were seen as also being victims of false or exaggerated claims of more common childhood diseases of which claims of asthma, sinopulmonary infections, and drug allergies were common examples. References