To those who have not heard the story of
Justina Pelletier, prepare to be outraged. To those who are familiar with it
...prepare to be outraged again.
Her ongoing nightmare was first
chronicled by Boston Globe reporters Neil Swidey and Patricia Wen in December of
2013. Justina is now a 15 year old young woman from West Hartford, Connecticut
who was diagnosed at Tufts
University Hospital with Mitochrondrial Disease by the Chief of Metabolism
Services , Dr. Mark Korson, who had been treating her for three years.
Mitochrondrial Disease is a group of rare genetic conditions that effect energy,
the stomach, the muscles, the brain and the heart. Justina was the second
daughter in a family of four daughters to be so diagnosed.
In February of 2013 while suffering from
the flu, she was rushed by ambulance accompanied by her mother
Linda, to Boston Childrens Hospital (BCH
) in Massachusetts at the
recommendation of Dr. Korson to see her Gastroenterologist, Dr. Alex Flores who
had transferred to BCH from Tufts.
When Justina and her mother arrived at
BCH she was not seen by Flores. Instead her case was taken over by the
Psychiatry Department at BCH who within three days came to the diagnostic
conclusion that instead she was suffering from Somatoform disorder which in
laymen's terms translates for some into something like "your condition and
related manifestations are all in your head".
When Linda and her husband Lou, who was
on the telephone were notified of this, they were also notified that the Doctors
from BCH were unilaterally withdrawing several medications prescribed by Tufts.
Both parents were vehement in their objection to this and demanded that Dr.
Flores examine their daughter.
The BCH team then further notified the
parents that they were prohibited from seeking any second opinions including
from Dr. Korson. Dr. Flores later admitted that he was also prohibited by BCH
from even talking to his patient, Justina.
Lou Pelletier arrived at BCH the next
morning determined to bring his daughter and wife home. He noticed almost
immediately that security guards were blocking every exit. The BCH Doctors then
told the parents that they had referred Justina's case to the Massachusetts
Department of Children and Families with the recommendation that DCF take
emergency custody of Justina on the basis that Linda and Lou Pelletier had been
committing "Medical Child Abuse" which is a medical/legal "catchall phrase" as
described by the two reporters. It is controversial because it is very elastic
and can stretch the meaning and substance of parents acting against the best
interests of their child in a medical setting.
By Valentine's day 2013, Lou Pelletier
had had enough and told the nurses he was taking his daughter home. The
hospital called security who again blocked all the exits and Lou called the the
Boston cops. When the police arrived they were informed by the medical staff
that a 51A complaint had been filed against the parents and the case would be
heard by a Judge the next morning. The parents were then blocked from seeing
Justina and the nightmare began in earnest.
The next day Suffolk County Juvenile
Court Judge Joseph Johnston took custody of Justina away from her parents and
transferred it to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on an emergency basis.
Justina was then sent to a unit called Bader 5 and placed in a
locked room in the Psychiatric wing of BCH. Bader 5 is
reserved for seriously disturbed adolescents even though there was no history
whatsoever, that she had ever suffered or was suffering from any emotional or
psychiatric malady. This locked facility for at risk patients would be her home
for the next nine months until her father broke an unconstitutional gag order
from Judge Johnston and went public with his daughter's ordeal. As a result a
contempt motion has now been filed against him.
Since Justina's incarceration, the family
has retained legal counsel but their ability visit their daughter on a daily
basis has been restricted for dubious reasons, to once a week under
supervision. Dr. Mark Korson has tried in vain to convene a meeting of all
interested parties, including the parents in order to arrive at a consensus for
the future treatment of Justina.
The staff of both BCH and DCF have
continued to treat the parents as both troubled and trouble makers without
seemingly understanding the emotional toll being taken on them and
her siblings. The Judge appears to believe everything he is told by the
hospital and the state while also being angry over the violation of his gag
order which Allen Dershowitz has said is unconstitutional.
It has further been disclosed that the
Pelletier case is just the latest in a series of at least five others at BCH
where parents lost custody of their children to the BCH Psychiatry Department,
one of whom reportedly died while in their care. This practice, which is not
contained to BCH, has given rise to a sardonic appellation. It has become known
as "parent-ectomy".
Kathleen T. Higgins an RN who formerly
worked at BCH and who is a mandated reporter for child abuse situations has
accused BCH in a statement to DCF of "causing Justina to be unjustly and
illegally imprisoned".
Justina's physical condition has
deteriorated markedly since she became a ward of the state and was taken off her
medication. She cannot walk and is confined to a wheel chair while suffering
from a variety of physical and emotional symptoms including edema of her lower
extremities. It should be remembered that just six weeks prior to her going to
BCH, she was ice skating.
In late March of 2014, Judge Johnston
granted permanent custody of Justina, a citizen of Connecticut who is now in a
residential psychiatric facility in Framingham Mass., to the State of
Massachusetts. This done even while DCF was attempting to transfer her to a
facility in her home state. Lou Pelletier is now seeking a writ of Habeas
Corpus to have his daughter restored back to her family.
This is about as frightening a case of
violating both individual and parental rights and protections that I have ever
seen in this country and the facts presented here today are just a synopsis of
all that has unfolded. The level of Judicial, Medical and Governmental
malpractice is close to, if not actually, criminal.
The ongoing case of Justina Pelletier
demonstrates in stark and dramatic fashion, how far down the rabbit hole the
nation has fallen. The Judge and the staff at both BCH and DFC involved in
this horror should not just be removed and fired but arrested and tried for
false imprisonment, for child abuse, and for violating the civil rights of
Justina Pelletier who is an American Citizen who has an unalienable right to her
life, her liberty and the pursuits of her happiness. She has the right that her
dreams...the dreams that all young girls have... should not turn to
sackcloth and ashes because she has become a
pawn of the arrogant and powerful. To help her and her family go to FREE
JUSTINANOW.COM ON FACEBOOK. 
ERLANDSSON
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