The Briefing2 Mar 2025

The high-profile illness seeing Aussie parents wrongly accused of abuse

Headlines: Europe is putting together a ‘coalition of the willing’ to stop the war in Ukraine, Israel blocks entry of all humanitarian aid into Gaza, and Labor vows further spending on health while Coalition promises to bolster national security.

Deep Dive: Munchausen Syndrome By Proxy is an illness most of us have heard of, having been at the centre of some of the biggest movies, TV series and criminal cases of the decade.

But now the widespread awareness of “Factitious Disorder” is leading to innocent parents being wrongly accused of child medical abuse.

One expert, who’s dedicated decades to researching the misuse and misdiagnosis of the illness, says it’s not only leading to false allegations, but it’s being used as leverage in family custody disputes, as ammo for doctors accused of malpractice, and seeing children battling rare diseases left behind.

So how common is Factitious Disorder actually? And what impacts have high-profile stories like that of Gypsy-Rose Blanchard had on the amount of Aussies being wrongfully accused of hurting their kids?

On this episode of The Briefing, Tara Cassidy speaks with Dr Helen Hayward-Brown, a medical anthropologist and sociologist who’s studied and assisted mums and dads across the globe who’ve been incorrectly accused of Munchausen Syndrome By Proxy, and all its other names, for the past 25 years.

Further listening from the headlines:
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