Munchausen's muddle
Sir: Rod Liddle (Wakefield is probably wrong about MMR, 21 July) admits to 'limited medical knowledge' and then proves it in an astonishing and disturbing way, for it seems he has completely misunderstood the nature of Munchausen's by Proxy. He has confused mothers who murder with mothers who, through a series of complex and devious machinations, conspire to inflict upon their children the symptoms and signs of disease so as to invite fruitless and damaging investigation. Their reasons are ill understood but demand recognition to protect the child from a form of abuse that may be lethal. With others, Liddle has helped to destroy the reputation of a prescient physician, Professor Sir Roy Meadows, who was the first to draw to our attention to his reluctant conclusion that the mother who he had always assumed to be his natural ally in the care of their mutual responsibility, the sick child, could occasionally be the agent of its distress.
Dr David Mun-ay FRCP Huntingdon, Cambs
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