Who a Mother with Munchausen’s Syndrome by Proxy Who May Have Developed into a Serial Killer: A Case Study

Abstract

Factitious disorder imposed on another (FDIA) or Munchausen syndrome by proxy (MSBP) is a kind of child abuse. The perpetrator, usually the mother, intentionally causes an illness or psychological symptoms in the child or invents a history of disease. While, in the literature, some FDIA patients have killed more than one child of their own have been reported, no case in which any patient showing FDIA symptoms turned into a serial killer by killing other people’s children. In this paper, we presented a case of FDIA in which the patient may have turned into a serial killer. The case who is 27 month-girl was admitted to Gazi Medical Hospital with the complaint of seizure. The mother was diagnosed as the FDIA in this hospital, two months later, it was learned that the mother had killed her neighbour's child and that she confessed her crime after she was captured. Having examined the history retrospectively, it was discovered that there may also have been other unexpected deaths related with the mother. The suspicious death was lack of evaluated beceause of considered as an accidental event or fate by police. We think that cultural dilemmas could be the reason of delayed explaining of the events. The purpose of this case presentation is to increase the common awareness that FDIA patients could be dangerous for the other children as well as their own ones.