Feigned Diseases

Simulated maladies. Diseases are generally feigned from one of tliree causes — fear, shame, or the hope of gain. Thus a man engaged in the military or naval service may pretend to be afllicted with various maladies, in order to escape the performance of military duty; the mendicant, to avoid labor and to impose on public or private beneficence; the criminal, to prevent the infliction of punishment. The spirit of revenge, and the hope of receiving exorbitant damages, have also induced some to magnify slight ailments into alarming illness. On this subject, Fodere (vol. 11, 452) observes, at the time when the conscription was in full force in France, “that it is at present brought to such perfection as to render it as difficult to detect a feigned disease as to cure a real one.” Zacchias has given five rules for detecting feigned diseases. (1) Inquiry should be made of the relatives and friends of the suspected individual as to his physical and moral habits, and as to the state of his affairs and what may possibly be the motive for feigning disease, particularly whether he is not in immediate danger of some punishment, from which this sickness may excuse him, (2) Compare the disea.se under examination with the causes capable of producing it; such as the age, temperament, and mode of life of the patient (3) The aversion of persons feigning disease to take proper remedies. This indeed will occur in real sickness; but it rarely happens when severe pain is 'present. (4) Particular attention should be paid to the symptoms present, and whether they necessarily belong to the disease. (5) Follow the course of the complaint, and attend to the dreumstances which successively occur. Wharton.

Simulated maladies. Diseases are generally feigned from one of three causes,—fear, shame, or the hope of gain.

Defined under Feigned in Black's Law Dictionary.