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Original poster

Have you ever met someone with Munchausen?

36 replies

iamsandycheeks · 07/11/2022 16:57

I was a HCA and working on shift few years ago. I've been a HCA at various Trusts

A woman there was self inducing labour with tablets, and then claiming she was losing her baby. Which she was, but it was fabricated

I saw her once years back and then again when she was found out. When she was found out, she'd terminated over 4 pregnancies this way.

On the last go, she didn't remove all the tablet in (vaginal tablets), and was caught. Hospital could never prove properly what she done, and psychiatrist who reviewed said she was okay to leave

Don't think she's ever been here since but is well known

I've never met anyone else like it. Nor do I know any family or friends with this condition. Do you?

OP posts:
Original poster
iamsandycheeks · 07/11/2022 16:58

Also to add her DS who was born from this near the viability stage has lots of health conditions due to his prematurity Sad so it technically isn't by proxy but may as well be

OP posts:
Sargass0 · 07/11/2022 17:14

What a horrible post. Why?

Original poster
iamsandycheeks · 07/11/2022 17:15

@Sargass0 because it's intriguing and an interesting topic? Why else

OP posts:
cushioncovers · 07/11/2022 17:17

Yes I've met one patient when I was a HCA also. She was a clever manipulative person who demanded your attention 100%. She seem to have had no realisation that her behaviour was odd and inappropriate.. She would draw you into conversation and keep you there observing your body language and any hesitation in your voice until she saw a weakness and then exploited it until she got exactly what she wanted. She was almost dead behind the eyes. She had had loads of unnecessary surgeries and would find fault with all of them so that she could be readmitted and have more stuff done. I dreaded working during the time she was a patient.

Original poster
iamsandycheeks · 07/11/2022 17:19

@cushioncovers oo that's awful! At least the woman I knew of was only seen about three/four times a year! And not by me

OP posts:
BobbyBobbyBobby · 07/11/2022 17:26

I hope I’m wrong but the tone of your post suggests to me that you have contempt for this woman? Her actions may be awful but if in the grip of a mental illness then it’s something that should be spoken about with some compassion.

I am anti abortion so the thought of someone deliberately trying to induce a miscarriage is very upsetting but I’d the woman has a mental illness then I feel sorry for her.

reigatecastle · 07/11/2022 17:28

OP I suggest that you read up on the story of Sally Clark and others, and then ask for this massively offensive and inaccurate thread to be deleted.

Meadowbreeze · 07/11/2022 17:32

You should never be allowed near patients if you feel it's appropriate to use their stories like this.

CPL593H · 07/11/2022 17:32

Not medical but a related field. I wouldn't discuss clients from 30 years ago in even the most positive way, which this isn't. It is also specific enough to be potentially identifiable.

Strongly agree that it needs to be deleted.

cosypeppermint · 07/11/2022 17:34

Why do you think it’s ok to post about your patients? Reported

HappyHamsters · 07/11/2022 17:36

What a mean post, unprofessional and uncaring. You are supposed to be caring for patients not posting about them on sm. If you were a staff nurse you would be reported to the NMC.

richieric · 07/11/2022 17:36

iamsandycheeks · 07/11/2022 17:15

@Sargass0 because it's intriguing and an interesting topic? Why else

I've always thought Munchausen was really interesting. I'm pretty sure my cousin has it.

pastabakeonaplate · 07/11/2022 17:37

Do you often discuss your patients like this on forums?

CPL593H · 07/11/2022 17:41

And @iamsandycheeks if you weren't protected by much more anonymity than you've allowed this woman, I would be reporting you to more than MNHQ

Bingobangodrinkacanoftango · 07/11/2022 17:42

Yes it was absolutely horrible. I had suspicions for a long time but it’s such an awful thing to believe if someone. It ultimately all came out and it genuinely messed with my head for a long time.

NoYouSirName · 07/11/2022 17:43

No, but I have met many people who have been falsely accused.

AuntMargo · 07/11/2022 17:44

Sargass0 · 07/11/2022 17:14

What a horrible post. Why?

Why is it horrible, its mental illness, why shouldn't it be discussed !

BobDear · 07/11/2022 17:44

This is a vile OP

You work in healthcare? And you are gossiping about personal experiences of someone with a mental health condition? It is an interesting topic, but the tone of your post is massively offensive and troubling.

reporting.

CloseYourEyesAndSee · 07/11/2022 17:45

Yes, but I'd never discuss them on mumsnet because I'm a professional!

Sargass0 · 07/11/2022 17:52

AuntMargo · 07/11/2022 17:44

Why is it horrible, its mental illness, why shouldn't it be discussed !

Show quote history

Because the tone of the OP is not to discuss Munchausens, sounds like they just want some juicy gossip. Otherwise they would could have just talked about it without the "juicy details of the patint they they are discussing- that's why. Rubbernecking.

pastabakeonaplate · 07/11/2022 17:54

Sargass0 · 07/11/2022 17:52

Because the tone of the OP is not to discuss Munchausens, sounds like they just want some juicy gossip. Otherwise they would could have just talked about it without the "juicy details of the patint they they are discussing- that's why. Rubbernecking.

Show quote history

Yup. If they wanted to discuss it they could have approached it in a much better way.

Chloefairydust · 07/11/2022 18:22

Yeah I had an old school friend who was in foster care due to her mum having this condition and faking illnesses in her child for medical attention. It was really sad and definitely some sort of mental health issue.

Also know of a family friend who is always at the doctors, like excessively, considering the fact she is actually healthy, I think she likes the attention 🤨 … It’s annoying when it’s so hard to get a GP appointment when you really need it and then you think of these people wasting doctors time and taking up appointments they don’t actually need. But then I guess they can’t help it and I do think there are underlying mental health issues going on with them.

Original poster
iamsandycheeks · 07/11/2022 18:37

It is a grey area in healthcare now anyway, the term by proxy is being done away with so it can be seen for what it is - child abuse

OP posts:
Chloefairydust · 07/11/2022 18:42

iamsandycheeks · 07/11/2022 16:57

I was a HCA and working on shift few years ago. I've been a HCA at various Trusts

A woman there was self inducing labour with tablets, and then claiming she was losing her baby. Which she was, but it was fabricated

I saw her once years back and then again when she was found out. When she was found out, she'd terminated over 4 pregnancies this way.

On the last go, she didn't remove all the tablet in (vaginal tablets), and was caught. Hospital could never prove properly what she done, and psychiatrist who reviewed said she was okay to leave

Don't think she's ever been here since but is well known

I've never met anyone else like it. Nor do I know any family or friends with this condition. Do you?

Also this sounds like a really extreme and sad case, I feel nothing but compassion for this poor woman. It’s frightening really, I mean she must be putting her own health at risk by keep doing this to herself, and where on earth is she getting these vaginal suppository’s from to trigger early labour??! 😱

I hope whoever she is that she receives the mental health support she obviously needs. Is there not a way that her details can be flagged up to adult social care? Or mental health crisis team?

Softplayhooray · 07/11/2022 18:46

BobbyBobbyBobby · 07/11/2022 17:26

I hope I’m wrong but the tone of your post suggests to me that you have contempt for this woman? Her actions may be awful but if in the grip of a mental illness then it’s something that should be spoken about with some compassion.

I am anti abortion so the thought of someone deliberately trying to induce a miscarriage is very upsetting but I’d the woman has a mental illness then I feel sorry for her.

It's not that easy. I have at least one in my close family and there's something malignant about it. People need to protect themselves and their loved ones around people with Munchausens or similar, that's the first most important thing as they can cause a lot of damage and there's a darkness to it. I've experienced it directly which is why I know this. It's hard to explain but it's not as easy as explaining it away as a mental illness that we should just have sympathy for. People are always hurt in the fallout and there's a desperate attention seeking aspect to it, and a self preservation aspect about not being found out, that can make them dangerous.