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Countess of Mar asks Dept. of Health about prosecutions against parents

Messages
2,391
Location
UK
I believe they are. As far as I am aware parents are at risk of prosecution. If found guilty then the child may be removed from them. Or at least the legal right to make decisions for the child.

I don't know if we have any lawyers who can answer this for us?
Children certainly could not be removed from parents under civil law, so we must be talking criminal law surely.
 

Hilary

Senior Member
Messages
190
Location
UK
Prosecution and guilty/not guilty are criminal law terms - in the civil courts (which would include family proceedings) you would talk about bringing a claim and the defendant being found liable or not liable.
As an erstwhile lawyer this was not my field of expertise, but I believe any parent accused of neglect or harm to a child would be prosecuted under criminal law as it involves harm to a person.
In any case, as has been said, I'm quite sure the Countess of Mar knows her legal onions.
 

MeSci

ME/CFS since 1995; activity level 6?
Messages
8,231
Location
Cornwall, UK
Reply:

Source: UK House of Lords
Date: July 10, 2017
URL:
http://www.parliament.uk/business/p...ents/written-question/Lords/2017-07-10/HL637/
Ref: http://www.me-net.combidom.com/meweb/web1.4.htm#westminster

[Written Answers]

[No heading]
------------

The Countess of Mar

Her Majesty's Government how many cases of (1) Munchausen's syndrome by
proxy, and (2) fabricated or induced illness, have been prosecuted
against parents of children diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis or
chronic fatigue syndrome in each year since 2010 for which figures are
available; how many of those cases were successful; how many were
withdrawn; and how many resulted in an acquittal. [HL274]

Lord Keen of Elie

Munchausen's syndrome by proxy and fabricated or induced illness are not
of themselves criminal offences so cannot be prosecuted as such. They
may, however, be of relevance to criminal offences which can be
prosecuted.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not maintain a central record
of prosecutions where Munchausen's syndrome by proxy or fabricated or
induced illnesses may have been relevant. Such information could only be
obtained through a manual search of records which would incur
disproportionate cost.

--------
(c) 2017 Parliamentary copyright

(I don't know why but I can't access the reply at the above URLs. I managed to find it online though.)
 

Deepwater

Senior Member
Messages
208
The usual answer - they never have the figures to answer any questions on ME.

How can they know that the cost of a manual search would be disproportionate if they don't know the number of children affected? Disproportionate to what level of problem?

In other words: 'Don't know. Don't care.'