A teenage girl was brought to the emergency room by her mother several times during the summer for severe abdominal pain. After many diagnostic tests returned negative results, the girl was hospitalized for observation. Over several days, the patient's abdominal pain disappeared. However, the night before her discharge, the pain returned. A hospital security camera recorded the mother entering her child's room late that night carrying a bag from the neighborhood pharmacy. Shortly after this visit the girl's symptoms returned. The hospital staff might suspect that

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The situation described is consistent with factitious disorder imposed on another (also known as Munchausen syndrome by proxy), in which a caregiver intentionally causes or fabricates illness in another person, often a child or vulnerable adult, in order to gain attention or sympathy. The fact that the mother was observed entering the room with a bag from the pharmacy suggests that she may be administering medication or other substances to her daughter to perpetuate her symptoms.

A Teenage Girl Was Brought to the Emergency Room by Her