Sickened By Julie Gregory Summary

Munchausen by proxy is a sickening form of child abuse where the caregiver, usually the mother, creates symptoms for their child in order to get attention from medical professionals. In Sickened by Julie Gregory it accounts the beginning of her life made up of hospital visits and tests. Only after leaving the care of her mother, Julie Gregory realized what had actually happened to her. She was never really sick her mother was. In this memoir Julie Gregory sets out to tell the truth of Munchhausen by proxy and how devastating it can be, after all how can you tell a mother is making up symptoms. The plot of the story itself is one that is filled with dark material such as hospital visits full of tests and abuse. However, the feel of these …show more content…
Munchhausen by proxy makes the child become sick because eventually they are on so much medication and have done so many tests that the medicine makes them sick. This is a horrible form of child abuse one that is very hard to endure. Even so, Julie Gregory still endured even more abuse at home. Her parents fought very often she beat the kids the had fostered, and even made Julie beat them too. Her mother and father were emotionally abusive her father told her “I can’t see my little girl go out there in a bathing suit and get laughed at. You look terrible in a bathing suit.” while her mother set her up with men that were over double her age. Another example that can show how cruel her parents were was when they purposefully burnt down the house for the insurance money leaving Julie's dog in the house because he simply disliked it.“ Even though this book rotates around Munchausen by proxy it also delves into other issues of abuse the author …show more content…
This theme can be relevant upon a multitude of issues. One such that is most pertinent in the book would be child abuse. Within this rare form of child abuse found within this book not knowing the truth leads to a multitude of problems. The very basis of this abuse is the fact that a caregiver lies about the symptoms a child has and because of this lie it leads to a series of tests, operations, and medications. Julie Gregory was not completely aware of the truth that all the symptoms her mom always talks about are not true. Because of the series of lies it begins a chain reaction that leads to the destruction of her childhood and her innocence. Only when she learns the truth is she able to move past the childhood of