Malingering and feigned sickness / by Sir John Collie... assisted by Arthur H. Spicer.

  • Collie, John, Sir, 1860-1935.
Date:
1913
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Malingering and feigned sickness / by Sir John Collie... assisted by Arthur H. Spicer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    raised at right angles with the body, his expression of intense suffering was pitiful to see ; yet when his attention was directed elsewhere, the expression of pain passed away. It was amusing to note that when his own doctor raised his patient's arm, it did not seem to cause pain. A. C. would not work, and the shipping company would not pay, so the case came before an Arbitration Court. Result.—At the hearing of the arbitration I demonstrated to the Court that the claimant was obviously shamming. He now complained he had lost sensation in the fingers of the left hand. In the presence of the Judge I instructed him to close his eyes and hold up both his hands. He was told to say at once Yes when he felt a pin-prick, and No when he did not. This ridiculous instruction he carried out. The fingers of the two hands were pricked alternately, and A. C. recorded many times Yes on the right, and a large number of No's on the left. Why should No ever have been given ? If there was, as he alleged, no sensation, there obviously should have been no answer. Notwithstandmg this, the decision was given in favour of the claimant. The Judge stated, however, that he thought the plaintiff was grossly exaggerating! Although a considerable weekly allowance was ordered to be paid to this worthy soldier, wounded in the industrial warfare, for reasons which were not apparent, he returned to sea in a few weeks, proving himself a little ungrateful to the arbitrators who had given him the award ! I wrote to the medical referee informing him of the man's ingratitude. The Judge will probably remember the case. Psychology of the Fraudulent Mind.—Malingering is much more common in connection with accidents than with disease, probably because of the legal habihty involved ; it has, there- fore, to be anxiously watched for and considered. Everyone is Hable to exaggerate symptoms if doing so may operate to his advantage or excite sympathy. For instance, pain in the back following an accident is a condition which is often caused by suggestion—auto-suggestion. It does not neces- sarily mean malingering ; but pain in the back after an acci- dent, be it caused by a wealthy railway company or by a mishap in one's own garden, is, much more often than not, accompanied by no serious pathological change. The pain is often only psychic. Experience teaches that closely similar injuries attributable to Hke accidents present one kind of clinical picture, and run one kind of course, amongst those who make no claim for compensation; but they present a very different picture and run a very different course amongst those who embark upon the troubled sea of Htigation. This difference is highly signifi-