Premium
Psychiatric and legal considerations in cases of Fetal Abduction by Maternal Evisceration
Author(s) -
Welner Michael,
Burgess Ann,
O’Malley Kate Y.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of forensic sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.715
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1556-4029
pISSN - 0022-1198
DOI - 10.1111/1556-4029.14788
Subject(s) - psychiatry , dissociative identity disorder , culpability , psychology , delusional disorder , clinical psychology , criminology , psychosis
Fifteen cases of Fetal Abduction by Maternal Evisceration (FAMAE) reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children during 1987–2011 outline the findings from a review of the forensic psychiatric considerations and legal course of each of the cases. Most offenders confessed to law enforcement within a short time of being placed under arrest in statements reflecting a continued effort to manage impressions and minimize culpability. Psychiatric assessment is invariably central to the legal disposition of FAMAE cases, as the defendant's goal is to diminish the perception of culpability/criminal responsibility and mitigate sentencing. Of those sentenced in the United States, nine defendants received life without parole, two received the death penalty (one executed), and one received a minimum of 30 years. Two abductors committed suicide and were not sentenced. Proffered diagnoses at trial included psychogenic amnesia, pseudocyesis, dissociative disorder, and delusional disorder; however, these rarely stood up to court scrutiny. Psychiatric experts showed the greatest variance in diagnosis over what to call the feigned pregnancy. In addition to delusional disorder and dissociative disorder, pseudocyesis, factitious disorder/pregnancy, pseudopregnancy, schizophrenia, and PTSD were among the various diagnoses proposed. A differential diagnosis for many FAMAE offenders may also include borderline personality disorder. Future research accounting for those women claiming false pregnancy who do not become homicidal will clarify whether FAMAE is the extreme endpoint of a fertility identity disorder.