Poor children, they have been harmed by the person who is supposed to love, nurture and protect them- and all for money and attention. I hope they get the help, support and love they need from now on, although obviously you can't undo the damage that has been done.
However, I think some people are being a bit harsh on the Dr's here. As with all walks of life, some are better than others but I don't understand "they never take people seriously". I don't recognise this- sometimes what patients want/think they need (especially in terms of scans or medication) isn't necessary. Sometimes they are right and the Dr has missed something. None of us go to work every day intending to ignore, misdiagnose or upset our patients. If you are unhappy with your current Dr, then seek a second opinion.
Clearly, big mistakes were made here and it's clear the specialists missed an opportunity to pick things up earlier when the GP raised concerns. When the GP (or ? general paediatrician- very different things but called GP and gen paed in the article) flagged this family up it's is clear that little was done- as the judge said, at the very least the specialists concerned could have contacted her to find out why she felt things weren't as they seemed. And yes, not sure how she managed to get an autism diagnosis attached to her child without a formal assessment. I'm guessing she told them it was diagnosed previously and nobody checked that she was telling the truth.
All that said- as a Dr if a patient, or a parent of a young child (or a patient who has communication difficulties for whatever reason), tells me they have x, y or z symptom then I'm generally inclined to believe them unless I have good reason not to. Clearly, if the symptoms described are compatible with a particular diagnosis and what is described could be a serious condition, I'd have to have pretty good evidence that this was a lie before I would ignore it. It is not unusual, for instance, for patients with persistent and troublesome pain to end up have operations to exclude pathology that may be missed on scans or other tests- e.g Diagnostic Laparoscopy. For a certain % of patients we know these symptoms are caused by largely benign conditions like Irritable bowel syndrome or perhaps a functional illness. In this patient group, we accept they may undergo a technically unnecessary procedure in an attempt to provide clarity in terms of diagnose and also reassurance for the patient. It's not as easy as you might think.