A factitious disorder masquerading as a hematemesis in a child

Abstract

Factitious disorder, known in its extreme form as Munchhausen syndrome, is the deliberate and repeated production of symptoms in the absence of a physical or mental disorder. In the pediatric literature, attention has always been paid to Munchausen syndrome by proxy. We report the case of a factitious disorder masquerading as a recurrent hematemesis in a ten-year-old girl.