LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST BOSTON CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL
by Sharon Rondeau
(Feb. 24, 2016) — Rev. Patrick Mahoney, who was instrumental in the return of a Connecticut teenager to her parents from the custody of Massachusetts Department of Children and Family Services (DCF) nearly two years ago, tweeted on Tuesday night and again this morning that there are new developments in the case.
In February 2013, then 14-year-old Justina Pelletier was placed in the custody of Massachusetts DCF after doctors at Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH) claimed that she suffered “medical abuse” at the hands of her parents, Lou and Linda Pelletier.
The family resides in West Hartford, CT, this writer’s hometown.
Justina was at length returned to her parents’ custody in May 2014. In December of that year, Justina was hospitalized in Philadelphia from what Lou Pelletier reported was the result of a lack of proper treatment while she was kept at Boston Children’s and several other facilities on her long journey home.
Prior to what has been referred to as her “kidnapping,” Justina received treatment for mitochondrial disease at Tufts Medical Center. When Justina’s parents brought her to BCH for stomach pain from the flu, as instructed three years ago when her Tufts doctor was unavailable, doctors there made a hasty determination that her illness was psychosomatic. Justina was placed in a psychiatric ward, restricted from visitation with her family, and her medications were discontinued.
Through notes sent to her parents, Justina claimed that she suffered from abuse at the hands of hospital staff.
On Tuesday evening, Mahoney tweeted that the family will be filing a lawsuit against the hospital, amplifying on that this morning in a press release at Christian Newswire.
