The sad and incomprehensible saga of Justina Pelletier, who has been under the custodial care of the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families for 14 months, continues to get worse.
Just to review – Justina was brought to Boston Children’s hospital in February of 2013 for the stomach flu at the recommendation of her specialist. She had already been diagnosed with mitochondrial disease at Tufts Medical Center, and had been receiving treatment for the disorder for years.
Unfortunately for the Pelletiers, when she arrived a Boston Children’s, a new set of doctors decided that Justina was suffering from a psychiatric disorder. The Pelletiers disputed the misdiagnosis and understandably attempted to remove their daughter from the hospital.
The situation has been spiraling out of control ever since.
Thanks to the DCF’s medical and psychological abuse, Justina’s condition is rapidly deteriorating. Her father, Lou Pelletier, dispairs, “Justina is in a world of hurt. She is physically and mentally dying. She doesn’t have much longer. “
Justina is being forced to endure behavior modification therapies, and drug-induced treatments in almost total isolation from her family, who are only allowed one 1-hour supervised visit per week. Meanwhile, to add insult to injury, a judge recently ruled that the Boston Marathon Bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, is allowed unsupervised visits.
The Pelletier family recently was able to deliver over 700 “Get Well” cards to their daughter, who is now being held captive at a Wayside Youth and Family Facility in Framingham, MA.
The cards were sent from supporters of the Pelletiers and friends of Liberty Counsel, the non profit, public interest law firm that is representing Justina. The cards, with messages of hope and encouragement, were delivered to her on Good Friday, and her father was able to read several of the messages to her.
Mathew Staver, of the Liberty Counsel reports that Justina was “encouraged by this amazing outpouring of love and support – even though she wasn’t allowed to keep the cards.
Due to these overbearing DCF visitation restrictions, the Pelletiers must complete their one-hour weekly visit with Justina and then remove anything they carry into the visitation.
That includes the hundreds of “Get Well” cards that we sent to her – and the ones still to be delivered. Many of those cards will be awaiting Justina when, prayerfully, she is able to return home.
According to Staver, Justina has only once been allowed to return to Tufts Medical Center where she was receiving effective treatments for her rare disorder.
Dr. Korman, Justina’s original attending physician, is calling for weekly treatments to restore her health. The DCF has refused Dr. Korman’s request, countering with proposed monthly visits.
Those familiar with the situation fear these limited course of treatments at Tufts will prove to be too little too late for the afflicted teenager.
Boston Herald columnist Michael Graham illustrates the gross injustice being done to the completely innocent and blameless Justina by noting that she is being treated worse than Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
U.S. District Court Judge George O’Toole Jr. ruled Wednesday that the now-20-year-old charged with four deaths and injuring more than 260 people should be able to see his sisters without an FBI agent present. The feds can appeal, but he says their case would have to be “pretty convincing.”
“Can you believe it?” That was Jennifer Pelletier’s response when I told her about the ruling. She’s Justina’s older sister — and every visit she has with her wheelchair-bound sister is held under the watchful eye of agents from both the state’s Department of Children and Families and — since the story went national — armed state police. The family is only allowed one visit a week, for one hour a week, with their own sick daughter.
“It’s hard for me to say this,” Justina’s father Lou told me Wednesday, “but a terrorist is getting better treatment in Massachusetts right now than a sick teenager who’s done nothing wrong.”