Post by a concerned mum

These cases are often being brought against mothers when they complain against doctors and hospitals for their child’s treatment or because mothers request their rights under Section 17 of the Children’s Act to help for their children in school. Mothers are accused in hospitals of “Googling” symptoms.

Over the past few years there has been an increased trend of taking mothers to both Child Protection and Family Court for FII, Fabricated or Induced Illness – formally known as Munchhausen By Proxy. Alarmingly children have been lost to foster care and adoption.

Great Ormond Street Hospital is leading the way in teaching programmes across the country for Doctors, Nurses, Physios and Paramedics where conditions such as Autism, ME and EDS are clear targets to start investigations into FII regardless of the fact these are actual conditions. They also teach that anxious mothers are a clear indication of FII, but what mother is not anxious if their child is sick?

More alarming is that children and parents are routinely being accused of “Googling”medical symptoms or making them up.

As in the case below, this type of teaching across the country can have a deadly effect and a young boy died.

How many more children will die or be lost to foster care before this abuse by professionals stops?

Our hearts go out to this family.

Boy died of meningitis just hours after paramedics claimed he was ‘milking it’

Two doctors and two paramedics rejected a mother’s fears that her son had meningitis just hours before he died, an inquest heard on Tuesday.

Primary school teacher Georgie Hall, 38, said paramedic Graham Scott even rolled his eyes at her and claimed that her six-year-old son Oliver was trying to “milk” his illness after he was examined at their local GP surgery.

She claimed she was also asked if she had used Google to check her son’s symptoms and was told by the same paramedic that he spent much of his time dealing with “over-anxious mothers”.

The doctors said it was safe to send Oliver home with a “normal child’s virus”.

But his condition deteriorated and less than 12 hours later he died of meningitis.

Primary school teacher Georgie said the GPs “didn’t seem to look” at the rash.

She told the inquest Mr Scott kept ­interrupting the doctors and trying to persuade them her son was “fine”.

Georgie said: “They assured me he was well enough to return home. They rejected meningitis out of hand. I was told everything was fine and made to feel I had to trust the professionals.”

Oliver’s dad, teacher Bryan Hall, said the couple had received paediatric training through work.

He said Oliver had been ill “in a way he’d never been ill before”, adding: “We both suspected meningitis. We were made to feel we did not know what we were talking about.”

Georgie, who is seven months ­pregnant and also mum to Charlie, five, said Oliver had a sore head and jaw on the evening of October 22, 2017.

By the following morning he had a stomach ache and high-temperature but no GP appointment was ­available until 3.50pm.

When a rash appeared and his breathing became laboured she rang NHS 111. A call handler ordered an ambulance and Mr Scott and Oliver Denby arrived at the home in Halesworth, Suffolk.

They took him to see Dr Lester Braganza and Dr Robert Treen, who sent him home.

At 6.20pm Georgie returned to the GP surgery where Dr Treen said the rash was “typical” of meningitis and administered penicillin.

The Halls drove Oliver to hospital where he went into cardiac arrest and died just after 2am on October 24.

Prof Nigel Klein, of Great Ormond Street Hospital, said he could have survived if he had been treated earlier.

The inquest continues.