Teen in Mass. medical dispute heads to foster care

[Dave]

This story is scary and needless to say, quite messed up. For the life of me I can't figure out what kind of insanity is going around with these doctors that keep saying that the disease is all in the girls head when she appeared to be responding to the initial treatment she received from the first hospital she had been taken too. Factor in the doctor at the first hospital was an expert on the disease, it would seem unlikely that he would be wrong when you also consider an older sister had been diagnosed with the same disease. Its already been a year since the Boston's Children's Hospital has taken the young lady hostage... we can only hope that all in this case come to their senses and let the family take the girl to where she can get proper treatment at.

Boston Children's Hospital doctors believe Justina Pelletier's disorder is mental, not medical.

A Connecticut teenager at the center of a yearlong medical dispute and custody battle involving two major hospitals and the state of Massachusetts reportedly was headed to foster care Monday despite her parents' objections, according to news reports.

Justina Pelletier's mother fainted after a closed court hearing in Boston and was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital. She was expected to be released later Monday, the head of a Christian group aiding the family told the Boston Globe, which has written in-depth about the case. A gag order prevents her parents, Linda and Lou Pelletier, of West Hartford, Conn., from talking to the media about the case.

The Pelletiers have been fighting to regain custody of their 15-year-old daughter since February 2013, when she was taken to the emergency room at Boston Children's Hospital for treatment of a mitochondrial disorder, which doctors at Tufts Medical Center had diagnosed two years earlier. But Boston Children's doctors rejected the diagnosis, declaring her ailment was psychosomatic and then placing her in a psychiatric ward, where she remained until she was moved to a state residential facility last month.

The Massachusetts Department of Child Services, which took control of Justina after Boston Children's reported suspicions of medical child abuse, asked Monday to place her in a foster home in Boston within 48 hours, and the judge granted the request, WBZ-TV reported.

"My understanding is that Justina is being moved to foster care and they are outraged by that," the Rev. Patrick Mahoney, head of the Christian Defense Coalition, which is aiding the Pelletiers, said outside the courtroom, the Hartford Courant reported. "There is no medical care there."

Justina's father said her condition is "rapidly declining" -- her legs and stomach are swollen and she cannot walk.

"The legal tiddlywinks they're playing with my daughter's life is disgusting," he said.

Another hearing is scheduled for March 17.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/02/24/pelletier-hosp...

[XLFD]

Thanks for sharing this article, I have been getting snippets of it throughout, and I still don't get what authority is allowing the state and medical agencies to do this crazy behavior-- whoever has that authority belongs in a mental hospital. 

It's totally insane the way the mother State is giving itself unheard of power in breaking up families. 

[Willy]

I also heard bits of information on the radio about this case. This topic helps put the bits together. We will be seeing more of this type of actions when Obamacare is fully implemented. The Government will be able to control our lives and decision's about our health and our families health even if that means using an iron fist to hammer us into submission so we follow orders like good citizens.

[XLFD]

Latest news:  "MA Representative Marc Lombardo (R-Billerica) and Jim Lyons (R-Andover) are looking to have Justina Pelletier, the teen involved in a high profile custody case, released from DCF custody.

Lombardo and Lyons are circulating a Resolution of the House of Representatives, which asks DCF to start the process of releasing Pelletier to her parents.

"The self-stated goal of the Department of Children and Families is to strengthen the link between families. Removing a child from her family is reserved for only the most egregious circumstances where evidence of malicious intent, negligence or the blatant inability to care for the child is present. No such findings are present in this case," Lombardo said in a release.

"The Pelletier case is a dispute between conflicting medical opinions," Lyons said in a release. "In my opinion, the decision on which medical treatment to adopt should rest with the parents, not with DCF. The Department's heavy-handed, unjustified interference with the rights of these parents is an example of what is wrong with this agency."

The Resolution will be offered at the next Mass. House of Representatives session.

http://www.myfoxboston.com/story/24832763/two-mass-reps-ask-dcf-to-...

[Dave]

There was a little bit more action in the case today, she will no longer be going into foster care and instead will remain where's she's been for most of the last year. Her parents are hopeful that things might of turned the corner and with the help of the Representatives mentioned above that she will be able to go back to the original hospital to get the care she actually needs.

[AQUAMAN]

Dave, thanks a million for bringing this important thread up to the Torch. It's a very important and precedent setting situation all around. Do keep us updated when new developments arise for sure. These parents have and continue to go thru literal Hell, and don't deserve this.

[Dave]

Last I heard regarding the situation it sounded like the wheels were turning and she should be able to the care of the doctor's at her original hospital and be able to go home in the near future thankfully... think there is a court hearing on the 17th if I recall correctly and that should be a big step to get her on her way.

[XLFD]

This Saturday will be Justina Pelletier's 16th Birthday.  But it will not be sweet unless she can be immediately returned to her parents.  The State still has custody, so she will likely spend it with her kidnappers while her physical and mental health deteriorate.  This case shows precisely why the nanny state envisioned by many 'progressive' politicians as benevolent is anything but. 

http://www.lifenews.com/2014/05/21/justina-pelletier-turns-16-on-sa...

[Willy]

I'm afraid we will be seeing much more of this when Obama care is fully implemented. I can see the "State" taking custody of children if they think any parent is doing something considered medically improper as defined by the Government. This is what's so damn frustrating. People welcome the "State" into their personal lives and think the World is going to be all rosey while they give up their personal freedoms.

[XLFD]

It may be an oversimplification, but to the progressive mindset, the family unit is not sustainable or resilient enough to serve the greater societal purpose.  Too much energy is wasted with loyalties to other family members, which could be better suited for loyalty to our state, its principles, and its progressive, altruistic leaders.  Fathers and mothers may distort the complete importance of our most benevolent state, and pass on their mistaken sense of history and the sacrilegious concepts of ancestry and tradition.

[Willy]

Well said X. What is happening almost sounds like the mind set of the old Soviet Union.