Fabricated illness in children: Healthcare professionals need to be vigilant

While it's rare for a parent to fabricate an illness in their child, a McMaster University researcher says physicians and other health professionals need to be on the alert for this form of child abuse. Dr. Harriet MacMillan, a pediatrician and child psychiatrist of the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, said caregiver-fabricated illness in a child often goes unrecognized. "It is probably more common than we realize," said MacMillan, who conducts family violence research, including trials of interventions aimed at preventing child maltreatment and intimate partner violence...