Nursing interventions in Münchausen syndrome by proxy.

1. Münchausen syndrome by proxy is a rare but serious and potentially lethal form of child abuse in which a primary care giver induces or reports factitious symptoms in a child. 2. The child suffers from the caregiver's actions and health care providers unknowingly become accomplices when they provide unnecessary testing and therapies. 3. The child's physical and psychological welfare can be protected through the efforts of the forensic nurse specialist coordinating a multidisciplinary health care team's work to detect the syndrome and intervene early on.