The ME Association has supported the Withdraw the FII Label campaign that asks authorities to withdraw the FII label and replace it with new, evidence-based safeguarding frameworks.
While Fabricated and Induced Illness (FII) remains at core a useful diagnosis for those very rare cases that clearly meet its criteria, and can be an informative consideration for some rare cases which involve extreme parental behaviour in relation to a child's health, past mis-guidance has so biased the terminology that it needs to be withdrawn and replaced with something clear-sighted and comparatively safe.
Like other past and persistently residual misinformation promoting presumption of behavioural causality for cases with symptom presentations lacking a clearly established evidence base, FII guidance has been a source of misdiagnosis and – reflecting the extreme nature of the diagnosis – extreme interventions claimed to be in the juvenile and dependent young adult patients' interest, but which have caused long-term iatrogenic outcomes.
The current campaign, Withdraw the FII Label, calls for:
- Immediate withdrawal of the FII label and associated guidance
- Creation of new, evidence-based frameworks co-produced with disabled people and parent carers
- Professional training that promotes collaborative, family-centred practice, and understanding of disability and distress
- A review by regulatory bodies—including the GMC, Royal Colleges, and NICE—of any guidance legitimising the use of FII
- Judicial caution in accepting FII allegations without rigorous factual analysis and greater scrutiny of expert witness testimony
The detriment that has resulted from this misguidance in recent years has not been limited to those cases where FII has been alleged and draconian interventions imposed, but has also influenced prejudicial assumptions for other unclear presentations and purportedly suitable but in reality unsafe treatment approaches.
How to support the campaign
Further Information
- The ME Association: Background information on Fabricated and Induced Illness (FII)