Munchausen by Internet: Should We Believe Everything Our Visitors Tell Us Here?

On many of the threads on my blog, my visitors describe their own medical conditions and their experiences with the disease and with their healthcare providers. Probably more common, of course, are visitors to online chat or websites which deal with and provide support for specific illnesses and encourage discussion.  The general personal anonymity of the postings encourage free discussion of one's described illness and experience.  Often there may be a outpouring of sympathy by the other participants to the site. Unfortunately, it has been discovered and documented that these personal narratives of one's illness are fabricated by the writer for their own psychological reasons. And this condition has been named: "Munchhausen by Internet". An excellent description  of this behavior is described in the Wikipedia presentation "Munchhausen by Internet" from which the following portions are copied below. Go to the Wikipedia link and read the entire article including noting the resources. What do you see as the ethical implications of such behavior on the internet and the effect of such made-up life experiences might have on large numbers of innocent but ill visitors struggling with their own concerns? ..Maurice.

Münchausen by Internet is a pattern of behavior in which Internet users seek attention by feigning illnesses in online venues such as chat rooms, message boards, and Internet Relay Chat(IRC). It has been described in medical literature as a manifestation of factitious disorder or factitious disorder by proxy.^[1] Reports of users who deceive Internet forum participants by portraying themselves as gravely ill or as victims of violence first appeared in the 1990s due to the relative newness of Internet communications. The pattern was identified in 1998 by psychiatrist Marc Feldman, who created the term "Münchausen by Internet" in 2000. It is not included in the fourth revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders(DSM-IV-TR).
The development of factitious disorders in online venues is made easier by the availability of medical literature on the Internet, the anonymous and malleable nature of online identities, and the existence of communication forums established for the sole purpose of giving support to members facing significant health or psychological problems. Several high-profile cases have demonstrated behavior patterns which are common among those who pose as gravely ill, victims of violence, or whose deaths are announced to online forums. The virtual communities that were created to give support, as well as general non-medical communities, often express genuine sympathy and grief for the purported victims. When fabrications are suspected or confirmed, the ensuing discussion can create schisms in online communities, destroying some and altering the trusting nature of individual members in others.
The term "Münchausen by Internet" was first used in an article published in the Southern Medical Journal written by Marc Feldman in 2000. Feldman, a clinical professor of psychiatry at theUniversity of Alabama at Birmingham, gave a name to the phenomenon in 2000, but he co-authored an article on the topic two years earlier in the Western Journal of Medicine, using the description "virtual factitious disorder".^[2] Factitious disorders are described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-IV-TR (DSM) as psychological disorders involving the production of non-existent physical or psychological ailments to earn sympathy. These illnesses are feigned not for monetary gain or to avoid inconvenient situations, but to attract compassion or to control others.^[3] Chronic manifestation of factitious disorder is often called Münchausen syndrome, after a book about the exaggerated accounts of the adventures of Baron Münchhausen, a German cavalry officer in the Russian Army, that was written by Rudolf Erich Raspe.^[4] When another person's symptoms are caused, such as a child or an elderly parent's, it is called factitious disorder by proxy, or Münchausen syndrome by proxy.^[5]
Feldman noted that the advent of online support groups, combined with access to vast stores of medical information, were being abused by individuals seeking to gain sympathy by relating a series of harrowing medical or psychological problems that defy comprehension.^[1] Communication forums specializing in medical or psychological recovery were established to give lay users support in navigating often confusing and frustrating medical processes and bureaucracy. Communities often formed on those forums, with the goal of sharing information to help other members. Medical websites also became common, giving lay users access to literature in a way that was accessible to those without specific medical training. As Internet communication grew in popularity, users began to forgo the doctors and hospitals often consulted for medical advice. Frequenting virtual communities that have experience with a medical problem, Feldman notes, is easier than going through the physical pain or illness that would be necessary before visiting a doctor to get the attention sought. By pretending to be gravely ill, Internet users can gain sympathy from a group whose sole reason for existence is support. Health care professionals, with their limited time, greater medical knowledge, and tendency to be more skeptical in their diagnoses, may be less likely to provide that support.^[1][6][7]People who demonstrate factitious disorders often claim to have physical ailments or be recovering from the consequences of stalking, victimization, harassment, and sexual abuse. Several behaviors present themselves to suggest factors beyond genuine problems. After studying 21 cases of deception, Feldman listed the following common behavior patterns in people who exhibited Münchausen by Internet:

• Medical literature from websites or textbooks is often duplicated or discussed in great detail.

• The length and severity of purported physical ailments conflicts with user behavior. Feldman uses the example of someone posting in considerable detail about being in septic shock, when such a possibility is extremely unlikely.

• Symptoms of ailments may be exaggerated as they correspond to a user's misunderstanding of the nature of an illness.

• Grave situations and increasingly critical prognoses are interspersed with "miraculous" recoveries.

• A user's posts eventually reveal contradictory information or claims that are implausible: for example, other users of a forum may find that a user has been divulging contradictory information about occurrence or length of hospital visits.

• When attention and sympathy decreases to focus on other members of the group, a user may announce that other dire events have transpired, including the illness or death of a close family member.

• When faced with insufficient expressions of attention or sympathy, a forum member claims this as a cause that symptoms worsen or do not improve.

• A user resists contact beyond the Internet, by telephone or personal visit, often claiming bizarre reasons for not being able to accept such contact.

• Further emergencies are described with inappropriate happiness, designed to garner immediate reactions.

• Other forum members post on behalf of a user, exhibiting identical writing styles, spelling errors, and language idiosyncrasies, suggesting that the user has created fictitious identities to move the conversation in their direction.^[1]