Dana Dirr, trauma surgeon and mother of 11, was hit by a drunk driver on the eve of Mother’s Day in 2012.
She was pregnant at the time.
Doctors managed to save her baby, but Dana died in hospital.
To make matters worse, one of her children, a 7-year-old boy, had cancer at the time.
Dana’s husband posted an emotional tribute to his wife on Facebook, which quickly went viral — eliciting an outpouring of grief.
But the story turned out to be entirely fake.
Lies, exaggeration … and even making yourself sick
The tale of Dana Dirr was actually a case of Munchausen by internet, a syndrome that sees people feign illness online in an attempt to garner the sympathy and attention of others.
“Munchausen syndrome refers to people who have evolved a severe and chronic lifestyle in which they lie about illness, actually enact illness or exaggerate an illness they have, or, in the most extreme cases, make themselves sick,” Professor Marc Feldman said.
Professor Feldman, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Alabama and the world’s foremost authority on Munchausen syndrome, says Munchausen by internet is the latest iteration a syndrome with a long history.
“It used to be that people had to go from emergency room to emergency room, they would have to study up on illness and try to appear authentic when they were faking. Now all you have to do is sit at home in your pyjamas and click into a support group and make up a story,” Professor Feldman said.
Because of this, Professor Feldman suspects Munchausen syndrome is now “more common than it’s ever been.”
“[People] do it not because they are trying to make money from it or get on disability [benefits], they do it because it’s inherently gratifying. They get attention and sympathy and care that they feel unable to get in any other way,” he said.
There are even cases in which abusive parents have made their own children sick — an iteration often known as Munchausen syndrome by proxy.
Belle Gibson case ‘straightforward malingering, fraud’
According to Professor Feldman, what separates Munchausen syndrome from fraud is that it isn’t about ripping people off; it’s about fulfilling a psychological and emotional need.
Professor Feldman says instances of alleged deception like that of disgraced ‘wellness’ blogger Belle Gibson, who profited by more than $500,000 in book and app publication deals after claiming to have cured her terminal cancer with holistic medicine, are not examples of Munchausen syndrome.
Top Comments
Is this expert real? I mean who says psych students are told to run away from patients? Does this really happen? The hoax hunters sound even scarier. I think I can spot a liar on line or in person. Like the article said the drama person. They love telling you about every ache and pain and it never gets better. I knew a real life munchausen person. It was worse when they involved their kids.