Three families are described in which the healthy only child was, from early childhood, put to bed and treated as if ill, dependent, and incapable. This abnormal mothering continued for 28, 45, and 48 years, respectively, and the children died as disabled adults. In each case, the three mothers evaded medical, educational, and social services. The origins of their behaviour are examined, and th...

The vitamin K metabolism of three patients with factitious purpura due to brodifacoum ingestion was studied. These patients, who presented with bleeding disorders due to deficiency of the vitamin K-dependent blood clotting proteins, were refractory to vitamin K1 at standard doses and required fresh frozen plasma to control bleeding until large doses of vitamin K1 were used. Metabolic studies de...

BACKGROUND/AIMS Ocular factitious lesions involving the conjunctiva alone represent a challenging diagnosis for the ophthalmologist; corneal integrity, in fact, allows maintenance of good visual acuity and precludes the pain subsequent to trigeminal stimulation. Conjunctival biopsy is crucial to make a diagnosis and to focus on possible peculiarities in the patient's behavior. A psychiatrist ha...

Nonviable gram-negative bacilli were seen in smears of cerebrospinal fluid from eight infants in whom bacterial meningitis was ruled out. Tubes from commercial kits were the source of the factitious organisms.

Hemolysis in ED (emergency department) patients is common due to difficult blood draws. Values of serum potassium (K) become falsely elevated secondary to release of intracellular contents. Objective: The aim of the study was to establish a correction factor for factitious elevated K in samples for de adult ED. Methods: We used samples from 125 adult ED patients, in which the 2nd sample was dra...