In the news

The BBC has reported that geneticists in Manchester are concerned that women are claiming a false family history of breast cancer in order to get treatment (see BBC news story). Treatment can include the removal of their breasts. Such women may be suffering from a psychological disorder similar to Munchausen’s Syndrome by Proxy. People suffering from this syndrome may fabricate or induce illness in order to receive attention and treatment. The number of women fabricating their family history in this way is small, an estimated 1% of patients. However, as the genetic basis of other diseases is discovered, one might ask whether this phenomenon will increase.

Worryingly, geneticists are unable to verify the family history claimed by patients because of restrictions imposed by the Data Protection Act 1998 regarding consent. If a patient will not consent to allowing a doctor to access the appropriate medical records, their family history cannot be confirmed. Patients may then undergo unnecessary surgery and family members might be led to believe they have an increased risk of cancer themselves. As Professor Gareth Evans, consultant in medical genetics at St Mary’s Hospital, Manchester, told the BBC, ‘What we are concerned about are people who actually are fabricating it, know they’re fabricating it, and they’re the last people who are actually going to sign a consent form that’s going to let you find out that they haven’t actually had what they say they’ve had.’