Re: California; Kids' illnesses spark battle with state

On Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:13:44 GMT
indigoace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Indigo Ace) wrote:

From the Chicago Tribune--

Kids' illnesses spark battle with state

A California mom spent years trying to figure out what made her
children sick, then almost lost them

<snip>

Saddled with $151,000 in debt from the battle, the Udvardis wanted to
sue their accusers. But attorneys told them it would be fruitless: A
state law gives absolute immunity to professionals who report
suspicions of child abuse, founded or not.

Los Angeles Times

I am not so sure. Let us review the history of Munchhausen syndrome.

Although the syndrome has generally been discredited, it still
pops up occasionally. Wikipedia quotes the British psychiatrist
Richard Asher in naming the syndrome after an eighteenth century Baron
Munchhausen, whose reputation for tall tales was much enhanced by a
satirical biography titled "The Surprising Adventures of Baron
Munchhausen" by Rudolf Raspe. Raspe was something of a con artist
himself who fled to England for political asylum after pilfering some
gems that were entrusted to his care. Munchhausen's reputation was
further advanced in 1786 when G. A. Bürger embellished the English text
and published it in German. The hapless Munchhausen thus became the
archetypical pathological liar even before he died in 1797.

Asher coined Munchhausen Syndrome 1950. This was near the beginning
of a post war boom in unnecessary surgery brought on by a glut of
military surgeons entering civilian life. The real life Munchausen
was neither a doctor nor a patient. The term was apparently chosen for
its derogatory connotations in order to discredit the complaints of
abused patients.

Those of us who grew up in that era have some unpleasant memories.
It was in 1954 when a surgeon removed my tonsils courtesy of the LA
taxpayers. I didn't really need my tonsils anyway. The only
thing I noticed was that I began having frequent sore throats.

One of my school mates was not so lucky. "Never let them remove
your thymus gland." He told me morosely. If you like, you can read all
about his views on mainstream medical quackery. He is the now famous
Dr. Weil.

Surgeons were swamped with complaints of unnecessary and harmful
surgery. Dr. Asher's psychiatric syndrome opened up an alternative
to malpractice suits. By referring patients to a psychiatrist, a
plausible legal defense was mounted. Surgeons naturally preferred
collecting referral fees to paying legal judgments.

The original Munchausen's Syndrome described patients who requested
surgery over and over again. Some patients had their abdomen covered
with scars. When rejected by one hospital they would simply find
another to take them. Sometimes they ingested poison, it was claimed,
so they would have the proper symptoms.

In those days surgical technique was not as advanced as it is today,
and there were few diagnostic tools. X-rays were new and of poor
quality. Exploratory surgery was often done just to see what was there.

In those days also surgeons worked without an anesthesiologist.
Brain damage was a frequent result. Sometimes this damage was
profound and permanent. The result was anterograde amnesia. The
patient remembered events before the surgery, but he could not
remember what happened since. These hapless patients would
go to surgeons over and over again because they could not remember
their previous surgeries.

Because of frequent cases of brain damage, surgeons began using
anesthesiologists as assistants in the 1960s. Today this is mandatory.

Dr. Asher abruptly left practice in 1962, and he killed himself in 1969.
Unfortunately that did not end Munchhausen quackery. Social workers
picked up on it and embellished it into MBP: Munchhausen by proxy.

Although MBP has been discredited, the term is still used by
racist Jews against groups they have a traditional hatred for such as
Ukranians, Germans and Persians. These are people that Jews teach
have disposition to be pathological liars. This sometimes covers up a
profitable trade in stolen babies. Not only does the county pay for
the care of foster children, but there are profitable medical
experiments and those military recruiting bonuses to think about.

Of course the professionals are protected against reports of child
abuse, but there is far more going here. Munchhausen syndrome
is a bad joke. The social worker is practicing medicine without a
license, as well as committing libel, slander, and displaying an extreme
form of vicious racism. People like this ignorant and bigoted social
worker should not be working on the public payroll anywhere. The
individuals may be immune, but the public agency that hired them is not.

.

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