Justina Pelletier, a 15 year old trapped in a power battle among doctors

[pnwmom]

Last edited Tue Apr 1, 2014, 04:49 PM - Edit history (5)

Justina Pelletier is a 15 year old girl trapped in a power battle between the specialists in metabolic illnesses at Tufts University Hospital in Boston, and the Harvard psychiatrists at Children's Hospital. Now, after a judge's ruling took custody from her parents and gave it "permanently" to the state of Massachusetts, an international watchdog, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, has called for an investigation into her case.

After her GI doctor moved to Children's, she came down with a flu, which triggered a crisis in her mitochondrial disorder. Since she was in a wheelchair and they were in the middle of a snowstorm, her parents called an ambulance to take her to the hospital to see the GI doc. The ambulance took her to the ER, where she was seen by a resident. Within hours, and without talking to her Tufts doctors, Children's decided her disease wasn't physical, but mental. They got a judge to agree to take custody from her parents and put her in a locked psychiatric ward for a year, during which -- away from her family, her friends, and her school -- her condition has continued to deteriorate. The judge handling the case has put the parents under a gag order, but the Boston Globe did a thorough investigation of the case. As another DUer recently said, "it stinks to high heaven."


http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/07/prweb10963167.htm

For thirteen months, Lou and Linda Pelletier's youngest daughter, Justina Pelletier, has been held in Boston Children's Hospital psychiatric unit. In deteriorating health, and confined to a wheelchair, the 15-year-old learned this week that there will be no pardon from the Massachusetts psychiatric unit.[1] Because a child's well-being hangs in the balance, Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) calls on the Massachusetts State Attorney General to investigate Boston Children's Hospital Psychiatric Unit, "Bader 5," and specifically require the treating psychiatrists to provide medical/scientific proof of the alleged diagnosis, Somatoform.

CCHR also supports legislative action instigated by Massachusetts State Representative Marc Lombardo to start the process of releasing Justina Pelletier to her parents [2] but said this should be expanded to investigate the influence of psychiatrists’ opinions resulting in state removal of children from their families.

After months of fighting for the teenager's freedom, the Pelletiers were dismissed by the Juvenile Court and denied custody of their ailing daughter. Juvenile Court Judge, Joseph Johnson's reason for denying the Pelletiers' right to decide their daughter’s medical treatment was his belief that the Pelletier's will not comply with the state's directives. The Judge further wrote in his decision that he believed Justina suffered from "a persistent and severe Somatic Symptom Disorder," the very psychiatric diagnosis the Pelletiers have been fighting since first admitting Justina to Boston Children's Hospital.[3]

In issues relating to the medical validity of mental disorders such as Somatoform, it is worth noting that that the former Task Force Chairman of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), psychiatrist Allen Frances, stated in a June 2, 2010 Psychology Today article, "Psychiatric Fads and Overdiagnosis," that, "There are no objective tests in psychiatry—no X-ray, laboratory, or exam finding that says definitively that someone does or does not have a mental disorder."

SNIP



http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/12/15/justina/vnwzbbNdiodSD7WDTh6xZI/story.html

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/12/16/month-medical-ordeal-conclusion-still-uncertain/Y7qvYTGsq8QklkxUZvuUgP/story.html

[justiceischeap]

1. My mom had a similar situation

She kept going to our family clinic for illnesses and such, wasn't feeling well, always run down, didn't have energy, gaining weight, etc. The (male) doc said she had "bored house wives syndrome" and would be fine if she found a hobby.

About a year later, she went back to the doctor (saw a different doc this time) and she ran a blood test. Come to find out my mom's thyroid was under active and had been for some time. I had the misfortune of having the same doc for another issue (I'd impaled my finger on some spikes and the wound needed to be cleaned out). While cleaning my wound, he was digging around in it with a needle filled with saline solution... I was tensing and saying "ow" when he told me to shush, that I was being a baby and it didn't hurt.

I found a new family clinic after that.

[pnwmom]

4. Research has shown that doctors are often less responsive to women's health concerns.

The same symptoms in a man are taken more seriously than in a woman.

I'm glad your mother finally got help!

[4Q2u2]

2. The Writer?

The Writer is a 9-11 Truther. Writes for insight mag and used to work for Rebubs as an aide.
I have been torn about this story for a long time. I guess I would climb in bed with the Devil himself if I thought my children were being stolen. Why not lean on every one and not just Crazy Wingers. What about the ACLU?

[pnwmom]

3. I think a lot of DUers are taking a knee jerk response against the Pelletiers

because many of its supporters are on the rightwing. I'm not going to do that. Every progressive should be worried about harmful intrusions of state power.

I don't know about the ACLU but Alan Derschowitz has offered to help the family. I hope he succeeds.

[theboss]

5. I honestly cannot make sense of this story

And when I don't feel like I understand something, I try not to form a passionate opinion.

On the one hand, as a parent, I would be furious if I took my child to the hospital and somehow lost custody. On the other hand, these seem to be really good doctors.

So....I don't really know what the hell is going on.

And neither does anyone else.

Yet everyone has really goddamn strong opinions based on....something.

[pnwmom]

6. The Tufts metabolic specialist is also a "really good doctor."

I think when there is a battle between two sets of really good doctors, the parents -- not the state -- should be the ones to decide which doctors to believe.

The Tufts metabolic specialist has been successfully treating the older sister for a mitochondrial disorder for years, and since 2012 has also been treating Justina. Why should a Children's hospital psychiatrist who's just met Justina in the hospital, be able to overrule the diagnosis of the Tufts doctors, wrest control of her care from her parents, take away the medications prescribed by the Tufts doctor, and put her in a locked psychiatric ward?

Something else that really disturbs me is that the social worker who wrote the affidavit for the judge (seeking temporary custody) wrote that she didn't know where the parents got the diagnosis. But Dr. Korson, the metabolic specialist, said he spoke to this social worker himself and explained to her the basis for his diagnosis. The social worker didn't mention this in her affidavit -- which is a lie by omission and commission. She certainly did know where the parents got the diagnosis.