Malingering

Malingering is a term used in the British army to express the crime of feigning disease in order to obtain discharge from the service, or to escape some special duty. As defined in the Army Act of 1881 it implies some overt act, such as the previous application of a ligature, or the taking of some drug, which produced the appearance of the disease said to exist. A worse form of the same crime, 'wilfully maiming'—as blowing off the trigger-finger—is erroneously called malingering.