Tag Archives: Massachusetts

News

DCF social workers reverse their support for kidnapping of Justina Pelletier

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The UK Daily Mail reports.

Excerpt:

A Connecticut teenager is closer to being returned to her parents after the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families decided she was better off in the care of her family than the state.

The final decision now rests with Judge Joseph Johnston who gave the state permanent custody of Justina Pelletier in March.

The move came after a highly publicized battle involving differing diagnoses from doctors at Boston Children’s Hospital and Tufts Medical Center and allegations of medical child abuse against her parents.

The 16-year-old made an impassioned plea to go home earlier this week, and DCF has removed its longstanding opposition to the idea. DCF now claims that Lou and Linda Pelletier have met the conditions asked of them in order to get their child back.

They will all now be looking to see if the judge agrees.

[…]The Pelletiers’ trying ordeal began 16 months ago when they submitted their daughter for evaluation at Tufts University hospital.

Justina’s case has gained attention after a diagnostic dispute between her doctors at Tufts Medical Center and at Boston Children’s Hospital over whether her deteriorating condition was primarily a physical or a psychiatric problem.

She was being treated at Tufts for more than a year for mitochondrial disease, a group of genetic disorders that affect how cells produce energy, often causing problems with the gut, brain, muscles, and heart.

However, doctors at Children’s hospital took a different view and concluded that her physical symptoms were primarily caused by psychological disorders.

After the conflicting diagnosis, doctors allegedly gave Justina’s parents the bewildering and heart-breaking news that they wouldn’t be able to take their daughter home.

Justina’s parents refused to accept that her condition was psychological in nature and tried to discharge her and bringing her back to Tufts.

Speaking of the moment their daughter was taken away from her, the teenager’s mother said: ”They came in, and they said we cannot take Justina out of the hospital.

‘They called DCF (Department for Children and Families).

‘They said Justina had ‘somatoform disorder,’ a form of mental illness that is characterized by physical symptoms.’

Linda and Lou Pelletier were escorted out of the hospital by security, and within the short space of four days they had lost custody of their beloved daughter.

In my previous post on this story, I noted that parental visits were conducted under armed guard. That’s what the state did to these parents.

I hope we will see a close to this story soon. I would like to see DCF social workers and the medical personnel at the Boston Children’s Hospital charged and tried in a criminal court for what they did. Maybe the charges could be something like child abuse or kidnapping. I hope that the people who made the decisions that took the girl away from her parents will see significant jail time. Then parents might start to have faith in their hospitals and social workers – which they are paying for. But then again, this is Massachusetts. It’s probably too much to hope for common sense there.

 

News

Court awards permanent custody of girl to Mass. Department of Children and Families

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Wow. I’m not sure if you all have been following this story, but just when you think that it has to end, the insanity just keeps on going.

The Daily Caller reports.

Excerpt:

A juvenile court judge issued a ruling Tuesday giving the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families “permanent” custody of Justina Pelletier. Any future decision to return the 15-year-old to her parents is now solely up to the agency.

Judge Joseph Johnston ruled in response to a motion from Pelletier’s court-appointed lawyer and her parents’ lawyers, Linda and Lou Pelletier of West Hartford Conn., which called for “conditional custody” of their daughter, reports The Boston Globe.

She has been in the custody of the state since February, 2013, when DCF removed her from her parents care. They have been aggressively demanding custody of Justina since then, and the case has gained national attention.

Justina Pelletier was being treated for mitochondrial disease, a genetic disorder that affects muscle tissue, by doctors at Tufts Medical Center early last year. She was admitted to Boston Children’s Hospital when she came down with the flu. Doctors at BCH disagreed with the Tufts doctors and diagnosed her with somatoform disorder, a mental illness.

Her parents rejected the new diagnosis and attempted to move her back to Tufts, when BCH notified the state it suspected the parents of medical abuse. The Massachussetts Department of Children and Families took emergency custody of Pelletier in February.

She has remained in their custody since then, spending most of her time in a psychiatric ward, and allowed one supervised hour a week to see her parents, reported The Boston Globe. She was moved to a residential facility a few months ago, but continues to be treated as an outpatient.

[…]Yesterday, AllVoices reported Justina’s visits with her parents are now supervised by armed guards.

So, basically, if you have a child in Massachusetts, that child can be kidnapped by the state government indefinitely. Note to self: never have children in Democrat-dominated state.

News

Federal judge approves sex change for convicted murderer

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Wes from Reason to Stand send me this disturbing story from ABC News.

Excerpt: (links removed)

A federal judge ordered Massachusetts prison officials today to providesexual reassignment surgery for a convicted murderer, calling it the only way to correct the “prolonged violation” of the inmate’s Constitutional right against cruel and unusual punishment.

Michelle Kosilek, who was born Robert, had filed a lawsuit against the Massachusetts Department of Corrections, seeking an injunction that would require prison officials to grant her the sexual reassignment surgery that was recommended by prison doctors as treatment for her gender identity disorder. Robert Kosilek was convicted in the 1990 strangulation death of his wife, Cheryl.

U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf ruled that Michelle Kosilek, who lives as a woman in a male prison facility, had experienced “intense mental anguish,” and said there was a “serious medical need” for her to have the procedure.

“It has long been well-established that it is cruel for prison officials to permit an inmate to suffer unnecessarily from a serious medical need,” the judge wrote in his 128-page decision.

He called it “unusual” to treat a prisoner with gender identity disorder differently “than the numerous inmates suffering from more familiar forms of mental illness.”

[…]Kosilek first sued the Department of Corrections in 2000. Two years later, Wolf ruled she should receive treatment for gender identity disorder, which included hormones. Kosilek sued again in 2005, again asking for gender reassignment surgery.

Frances Cohen, an attorney for Kosilek, told the Associated Press the judge made a courageous and thoughtful ruling.

I wonder if Frances Cohen and the judge are going to be paying for the surgery? No – that’s for the taxpayers to handle, I guess.

This tomfoolery is actually not unprecedented. Sex changes are taxpayer-funded in Ontario, Canada – where they have single-payer health care. And criminals are all eligible for sex changes in the UK under their NHS socialized medicine system. Here’s a recent case from last year, where a convicted killer is getting a sex change, courtesy of the NHS. (Which means the UK taxpayer)