Savonarola at the Stake: The Rise and Fall of Roy Meadow

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this paper is to describe the role of prominent paediatrician Professor Sir Roy Meadow in the controversy surrounding the diagnosis of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy (MSBP) in mothers accused of murdering their children.

Conclusion: The MSBP saga is a further chapter of an era of moral panic that started several decades ago with repressed memory therapy, satanic ritual abuse and multiple personalities. The fall of medieval sage Savonarola is an apt analogy for the fate of Roy Meadow. The history of medicine is rife with figures who become their own authority and rule by force of personality.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

1. Dyer

. Falsely convicted Sally Clark dies suddenly. British Medical Journal 2007; 334: 602–603.

2. Dyer

. Sally Clark freed after appeal court quashes her convictions. British Medical Journal 2003; 326: 304.

3. Asher

. Munchausen's syndrome. Lancet 1951; 6: 339–341.

4. Meadow

. Munchausen syndrome by proxy. The hinterland of child abuse. Lancet 1997; 13(2)343–345.

5. Dyer

. Meadow defends his role in conviction of Sally Clark. British Medical Journal 2005; 331: 66.

Dyer

Why didn't they spot the flaws?

The Guardian. Available online at http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,1510870,00.html accessed 31 January, 2008.

7. Dyer

. Paediatricians did not have duty of care to patient's mother. BMJ 2002; 325: 1321.

8. Samuels

Southall

. Covert surveillance in Munchausen's syndrome by proxy. Welfare of the child must come first. British Medical Journal 1994; 308: 1101–1102.

9. Pankrantz

. Persistent problems with the Munchausen syndrome by proxy label. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and Law. 2006; 34(1)90–95.

10.

10. Jureidini

Shafer

Donald

. “Munchausen by proxy syndrome”: not only pathological parenting but also problematic doctoring?. Medical Journal of Australia 2003; 178: 130–132.

11.

11. Rand

Feldman

. Misdiagnosis of Munchausen syndrome by proxy: a literature review and four new cases. Harvard Review of Psychiatry 1999; 7: 94–101.

12.

12. BBC News Profile: Sir Roy Meadow. Available online at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4432273.stm (accessed 31 January, 2008).

13.

13. BBC News 17 February 2006, Profile: Sir Roy Meadow. Available online at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4432273.stm (accessed 31 January, 2008).

14.

14. Nobles

Schiff

. Misleading statistics within criminal trials. The Sally Clark case. Significance 2005; 2(1)17–19.

15.

15. Dyer

. Pathologists shed new light on Sally Clark case. British Medical Journal 2005; 330: 984.

16.

16. Dyer

. Professor Roy Meadow struck off. British Medical Journal 2005; 331: 177.

17.

17. Potts

(January, 2008) Justice out of balance. Nexus 2004; 11(6). Available online at http://www.nexusmagazine.can/articles/Justice%200of%20of%20Balance.html (accessed 31).

18.

18. Editorial. Doctors must stay within their competence when giving evidence. British Medical Journal 2007; 334: 276.

19.

Cohen

He doesn't like women, says ex-wife. The Evening Standard. Available online at http://www.msbp.can/Munchausendiscredited3.htm (accessed 31 January, 2008).

20.

20. Kaplan

. Harold Shipman: an awful sod. Australasian Psychiatry 2006; 14: 90–93.

21.

21. Osmond

. God and the doctor. New England Journal of Medicine 1980; 6: 555–558.

22.

22. Feigon

de Rivera

. “Recovered-Memory” Therapy: Profession at a Turning Point. Comprehensive Psychiatry 1998; 39: 338–344.

23.

23. Merskey

. Multiple personality disorder and false memory syndrome. British Journal of Psychiatry 1995; 166: 281–283.