Posted on 03/25/2014 3:01:56 PM PDT by Morgana
A long-running child custody case took a dramatic turn Tuesday, when a Massachusetts juvenile court judge awarded “permanent” custody of teen-ager Justina Pelletier to the state Department of Children and Families.
The ruling by Judge Joseph Johnston leaves it up to the agency, not the court, to decide whether or when Pelletier should be returned to her West Hartford, Conn., home.
“It’s a huge ruling,” said a person who had been briefed on the decision. “It’s a setback for the parents.”
This person said the state, which has had temporary custody of Pelletier for more than a year, has no immediate plans to have the 15-year-old sent back home, or to a facility in her home state.
But a decision to award permanent custody can be revisited by the judge after six months, at the parents’ request. The judge made his order retroactive to late December, so a review could occur as soon as early summer.
Rev. Patrick Mahoney of the Washington D.C.-based Christian Defense Coalition, who has become the parents’ spokesman, said Tuesday that Lou and Linda Pelletier are “outraged” by the decision, though they have yet to get a written copy of it.
“There is no reason Justina should not be returned immediately back to the parents,” he said.
Mahoney said the parents continue to believe that their daughter is being “treated as a pawn and piece of property.”
Judge Johnston also denied a request by out-of-state lawyer Mathew Staver of Liberty Counsel in Florida to represent the girl’s parents.
(Excerpt) Read more at bostonglobe.com ...
I understand that. But there’s a key difference between somatoform and Munchausen’s in that the locus of the issue in somatofotm is within the patient. So I’m unclear as to why the parents are being denied custody.
This is a difference of medical opinion which has put an innocent girl and her family in the middle. And the girl is being held hostage with a medical treatment plan as ransom. It’s beyond ludicrous.
The opinion citing the father’s anger after having his daughter kidnapped by the state is completely Unimpressive. Of course he’s combative and angry. You took his kid.
” Is there an allegation that the parents are causing some or all of the problem?”
If that were really the case, how can it be explained that she was thriving and do well when she lived with her parents? She’s been in DCF custody without her needed treatment for over a year and is now in a wheelchair and is suffering. NOPE, it wasn’t the parents! It’s about power of the state and Boston Children’s Hospital doctors!
Her Tufts Hospital doctors want to treat her and DCF refuses to let them.
The way it is going this girl is going to become another Terry Shiavo.
Revolt is coming folks.
Indeed...just as the State decided that the husband of Terry Shiavo should take priority over her parents wishes....here the DCF’s of both CT and MA are determining that Justina has unfit parents. At least that is my understanding from reading the Hartford Courant’s article today at their website
I would not put any credence into any thing in the hartford Courant
My advice as a nurse:
When you are an adult, and the doctor in the hospital recommends a treatment plan that you disagree with, the doctor will most likely document in his notes the treatment he recommended, the patient’s refusal, and discharge the patient. No mess, no fuss.
If you are a pediatric patient, and the parents refuse a recommended treatment,the medical staff is required as a “mandated reporter” to file a child neglect case with CPS. If you discharge a pediatric patient knowing the parents are not going to provide the treatment, you can get your medical license yanked and even face criminal charges .
Therefore, if you do not agree with the doctor, act reasonable, agree with treatment plan, get your kid out of the hospital, and seek a second opinion later. This Pelletier family fought tooth and nail, which forced the hospital to make the report. A lot of times, the hospital does not even track if the patient has followed up on the recommendations. This family could have made fast tracks back to Tufts after the discharge. Boston Childrens would have just washed their hands off of this issue. Sometimes, it is just best to keep your cool, and act later.
I have also seen parents complain to the media, but because of HIPAA, the medical staff could not defend themselves. I think there is more to this story, because in my dealings with CPS, they are pretty useless . For them to go to this much trouble sends up warning flags to me.
In some states there is financial incentive for CPS to take and keep children. If they return children the caseload goes down, and funding goes down.
As I read it he made the decision because CT DCF wouldn’t take custody of her and he doesn’t want to return her to the parents. They mention parental abuse but if that were the case CT DCF would take their other children.
This is a MA DCF vs CT DCF issue. They are killing her over a bureaucratic bottleneck and paper pushers.
“out-of-state lawyer “
Don’t they elect out-of-state Senators?
According to the opinion, CT DCF wanted to take the child, and had a facility ready for her, but the parents threatened to sue that facility, so CT backed out.
In this case there is a financial incentive to keep the child. To release the child would be to admit they were wrong.
The massive ego’s won’t allow that to happen.
What is the source of your information about what the Floating Hospital doctors want?
I’ve read elsewhere that the lead MD involved is deeply involved on the research side.
An interview with her father.
I have not heard much from the Tufts doctors, however her treating physician at Tufts is treading a fine line. He gave her a diagnosis of mito without a muscle biopsy. I read he prescribed her drugs for blood pressure, and a whole mix of other drugs. Now, that may not be true, but if true , and she did not have mito, this Tufts doctor could face some serious problems with his license. That may be why he is laying low on this case.
I really have to hold my tongue about this because the things I want to say would probably be illegal to say. What I will say is this:
“The court document also said Lou and Linda Pelletier were “verbally abusive to Justina’s hospital providers.” It cited other parents complaining that the Pelletiers were saying their children were being kidnapped and noted threats made to medical employees to have licenses revoked.”
Clearly their child HAS been kidnapped by the government, and the government in return is complaining that the parents have not shown what it deems to be the proper respect. No respect is due. ***k these b******s. Threatening to have their licenses revoked? That’s the least I would have done. I say the parents have shown more than considerable restraint here! Oh no, how dare they threaten the professional licenses of those who have mistreated their child! I will say one more thing, in response to this:
“Pelletier family spokesman Rev. Patrick Mahoney told TheBlaze Tuesday evening that he thinks the case ‘clearly appears to be the strong-arming of the Pelletiers who refuse to go along with Boston Children’s and what DCF has ordered. They are being punished and they are the canary in the coal mine.’”
Indeed, and if no one stands up and does what is right, even if in violation of the law, then God help us all. Glenn was right when he said we’d wake up and not recognize our country. That day has come.
Oh, one more thing for the geniuses in Massachusetts, I may just be a neuroscientist, I may not know what Justina’s exact symptoms are, her exact diagnosis from Tufts, or what her medical information all shows, but I do know this. Mitochondrial diseases are very real (despite what you liars at BCH say to CYA) and some forms include dementia, so psychiatric diagnoses do not in and of themselves disprove the existence of very real mitochondrial dysfunction.
>> “ nobody commenting here does … have access to the data.”
A disinterested person doesn’t need access to any data to see that the girl is much worse compared to a year ago; and sadly her condition must have further deteriorated since the wheelchair photo was taken. Apparently the Boston CH can do no wrong in your opinion (#51), but you are hardly a disinterested person by your own admission of long personal experience with them.
You can pontificate all you want about what the chiefs at Boston CH are supposed to do, but the dramatic changes in the patient leaves no doubt their diagnosis and treatment had failed miserably and they are still insisting it is the right and only course. Not a surprise as backing off now means massive liability claims and damage to their reputation.
>> “But, in order to “know for certain” that the family is right, you have to believe things about CH (and Tufts) that I know, from long personal experience, aren’t true.”
To the family watching helplessly as their daughter slowly fade away, it is not a matter of who is right. A life is at stake here and what’s the point arguing about the fallible procedural “things about CH” that you know?
...and Jeff Kuhner’s show, which is THE morning talk show on WRKO 680 AM in Boston.
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