A primary care physician with a Factitious Disorder

Our family plight began in the fall of 2003.

Ryan was only 11-years-old when he became ill and was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), also known as myalgic encephalopathy or myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME). Six long years have passed since that time.

The absence of medical knowledge, public awareness, and local health agencies within our local medical community that lack this knowledge concerning our son's diagnosis (ME/CFS), have greatly contributed towards the nightmare our family has encountered; a nightmare which has involved dealing with physicians, educators, and county and state officials.

As parents we did everything possible to help our son Ryan, by providing care, accommodations, understanding and compassion towards him. Nonetheless, Ryan was taken from us by Buncombe County Department of Social Services (DSS) (at the age of almost 17 years old ) and placed in their custody in January of 2009.

This situation occurred only after a local physician at a local children's hospital filed a malicious report against our family in 2007. A malicious report which once unfounded, became the catalyst in propelling the allegations of suspected Munchausen By Proxy by social workers within the department.

Later those suspected charges would be changed to Factitious Disorder by Proxy, and lastly changed to a failure to provide our child with mental health care and a primary care physician.

On that infamous day, when the county took away our only child, our lives took a turn for the worse. Read more>>