What are the symptoms of fabricated or induced illness?
There are some warning signs which may suggest that a child is being subjected to FII. Examples are: • The child has repeated and unexplained illnesses. • The child has unexplained multiple illnesses. • The child’s supposed symptoms only occur when the mother is present. • The mother appears to know a lot about medicine. • Although the mother stays with the child all the time while he/she is in hospital and attends to him/her well, she may not appear as concerned about the child’s well being as the health care professionals who are providing treatment. • The father is not involved in the care of the child, or his involvement is minimal. • The mother talks to the medical team a lot and tries to develop a friendly relationship with them. However, if anything related to her views on what’s wrong with the child are challenged she becomes aggressive, confrontational, and may become abusive. • The mother is keen for her child to undergo tests which most parents would only agree to if they we