Liz Klimas
The Connecticut teen who has been in state custody for more than a year after her parents were accused of medical child abuse after disputing a diagnosis has apparently penned a note, giving a look into how she says she’s being treated.
“They hurt me all the time push me all the time and more,” the purported note from Justina Pelletier says. It also says “[they] do not let me sleep vary [sic] much.
“Hury [sic]!”
Keith Mason, president of Personhood USA, a group helping lead the Free Justina Coalition, told TheBlaze that Justina gave the note to her parents a few weeks ago.
“There has been some hesitation to release it because of how tyrannical the DCF has been,” Mason said.
Mason called the note “troubling” and said it’s “part of the reason we’ve put a lot of urgency on this campaign.” He said he thinks Justina is referring to her treatment by DCF employees and staff at Wayside Youth and Family Network, a facility in Framingham, Mass., where Justina has been living for the last few months as a ward of the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families.
The case surrounding 15-year-old Justina began last year when her parents, Lou and Linda Pelletier, brought her to Boston Children’s Hospital to see a gastrointestinal specialist while she was suffering from the flu. Justina had previously been diagnosed with mitochondrial disease by a doctor at Tufts Medical Center. She had been receiving treatment for the disorder, which manifests itself in various ways, impacting the function of the energy producing organelles of cells.
When admitted to Boston Children’s, her parents say, another doctor disagreed with the mitochondrial disease diagnosis, saying she had somatoform, a psychiatric disorder, instead. When the Pelletiers disagreed with physicians’ proposed plan to remove Justina from her treatments for mitochondrial disorder in favor of psychiatric treatments, they tried to discharge her to take her to Tufts. At this time, they served with a 51A, a report of alleged physical or emotional abuse.
On Feb. 14, 2013, the state stepped in and took emergency custody of Justina. Over the course of the next year, the Pelletiers appeared in juvenile court several times, fighting to get their daughter back. Most movement in the case occurred in the first months of 2014, when a judge ordered Justina to be moved from Boston Children’s. The most recent decision by Judge Joseph Johnson in late March to allow DCF to retain custody of Justina, making the family’s next opportunity to appeal in juvenile court May 20.
Much More at Link:
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/04/15/shocking-note-apparently-penned-by-justina-pelletier-to-her-parents/
