Munchausen syndrome by proxy

noun

variants or less commonly Munchausen's syndrome by proxy

: a psychological disorder in which a caregiver and especially a parent induces the symptoms of a disease or injury in their child, falsifies the child's medical history, or tampers with the child's diagnostic specimens in order to create a situation that typically requires medical attention : factitious disorder imposed on another

Word History

First Known Use

1977, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

Munchausen syndrome by proxy

noun

variants also Munchausen's syndrome by proxy

-bī-ˈpräk-sē

: a psychological disorder in which a caregiver and especially a parent induces the symptoms of disease or illness in their child, falsifies the child's medical history, or tampers with the child's diagnostic specimens in order to create a situation that typically requires medical attention : factitious disorder imposed on another