Opening Statements in Dispute Between Hospital, Teen Placed State Custody

Justina Pelletier's family is accusing Boston Children's Hospital of malpractice after a dispute in the then-teenager's diagnosis prompted state officials to take custody of her

Opening statements began Tuesday in a medical malpractice trial involving a Boston hospital and the family of a Connecticut teen who was placed into state custody after a dispute over her diagnosis.

The family of Justina Pelletier has filed a lawsuit against Boston Children's Hospital, saying Pelletier, then 14, was placed in Massachusetts state custody and "held against her will" in 2013.

The Pelletier family's attorney said she was diagnosed with mitochondrial disease — a disorder that affects cellular energy production — at Tufts Medical Center, but Boston Children's Hospital said her issues were psychiatric.

When her parents rejected that diagnosis and tried to discharge her, allegations of medical child abuse were raised, and the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families took custody of her.

"You will hear that they were angry, that they were enraged and that they objected in every way they knew how," John Martin, the attorney for the Pelletier family, said during opening statements.

She eventually was returned to the care of her parents in 2014 after a judge's order.

The lawsuit says Pelletier suffered "severe and debilitating psychiatric trauma as a result of being held against her will in a locked psychiatric ward."

Boston Children's Hospital denies the allegations of medical malpractice and said it would "vigorously defend the care our clinicians provided."

"You didn't hear anything in the opening statement that the treatment they provided was wrong," said the hospital's attorney, Ellen Epstein Cohen. "That's because it wasn't improper. It helped her. She improved."

The case is putting the spotlight on the debate of who has the final say on a child's treatment — doctors or parents.

With opening statements now complete, the jury will begin listening to testimony in the case. The judge told them the trial could last up to a month.

Full Article & Source:
Opening Statements in Dispute Between Hospital, Teen Placed State Custody 

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Justina Pelletier's Family And Boston Children's Hospital Are Heading To Court

Justina Pelletier, seated, speaks to media alongside the Rev. Patrick Mahoney, left, and her mother Linda Pelletier on Thursday outside the State House in Boston. The Pelletiers filed a lawsuit against Children's Hospital in Boston over a medically-related custody dispute. (Bob Salsberg/AP)

A lawsuit filed by the family of a Connecticut teen who was placed into state custody after a dispute over her diagnosis and put in psychiatric unit is scheduled to start Tuesday.

The suit was brought by the parents of Justina Pelletier against Boston Children's Hospital and those who treated their daughter, The Boston Globe reported Monday.

"Justina has suffered severe and debilitating psychiatric trauma as a result of being held against her will in a locked psychiatric ward, isolated from her friends and families, and enduring several months of treatment in which her physical symptoms and disease were denied by her primary caregivers," according to the suit, which will be heard in Suffolk Superior Court.

The family is seeking unspecified damages.

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Pelletier was 14 in 2013 when she was placed in state custody in Massachusetts.

She had been diagnosed at Tufts Medical Center with mitochondrial disease, a disorder that affects cellular energy production. But Boston Children's diagnosed her problems as psychiatric.

When her parents rejected that diagnosis and tried to take her back to Tufts, allegations of medical child abuse were raised, and the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families took custody of her.

She eventually was returned to the care of her parents in 2014 after a judge's order.

The case drew national media attention and ignited a debate over parental rights.

The Pelletiers did not return calls about the lawsuit, and their lawyers declined to comment.

Children's said Justina Pelletier received "high-quality, compassionate care."

"We will vigorously defend the care our clinicians provided and unequivocally refute the allegations that are being made against them," the hospital said in a statement to the newspaper.

 Full Article & Source:
Justina Pelletier's Family And Boston Children's Hospital Are Heading To Court