Monday, September 03, 2007

Bad (Potential) Mom, No Kid For You

How much do you really want government in control of health care?

SHADES OF MINORITY REPORT: "A pregnant woman has been told that her baby will be taken from her at birth because she is deemed capable of "emotional abuse", even though psychiatrists treating her say there is no evidence to suggest that she will harm her child in any way. Social services' recommendation that the baby should be taken from Fran Lyon, a 22-year-old charity worker who has five A-levels and a degree in neuroscience, was based in part on a letter from a paediatrician she has never met. Hexham children's services, part of Northumberland County Council, said the decision had been made because Miss Lyon was likely to suffer from Munchausen's Syndrome by proxy, a condition unproven by science in which a mother will make up an illness in her child, or harm it, to draw attention to herself."


I didn't know Munchausen's Syndrome By Proxy was "unproven by science", but wow. How would Orwell have described this? Probably pretty effectively, far beyond my feeble words.

No comments: