This appeared here, but I consider this of such fundamental importance I've taken the liberty of publishing the whole article. If the author objects I will remove it and merely provide a link. RK..
Boston, MA – On Sunday Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman
of Liberty Counsel, appeared before the Suffolk County Juvenile Court to defend a family
against abuse by the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF).
This is a story of a 15-year-old ice-skating competitor
who was taken from her parents by DCF, locked up for over a year, and is now
confined to a wheelchair because of maltreatment for a metabolic disorder.
Justina’s father, Lou Pelletier, recently spoke to the media about the tragic
case involving DCF and Boston Children’s Hospital. Seeking to silence the
parents, DCF has filed a complaint to hold the father in contempt of court for
violating an alleged gag order that was never put in writing.
“The very purpose
of the First Amendment’s protections is to protect citizens against this kind
of governmental oppression,” said Staver. “DCF’s motion for contempt is nothing more than an attempt to prevent
the public from gaining access to information concerning the State’s
unconstitutional intrusion into the fundamental parental rights of the
Pelletiers and to extend the secrecy of these proceedings,” Staver said. “There is simply no justification for such a
gross violation of the presumption of public access to judicial proceedings.”
“The story of
Justina Pelletier is like a horror movie,” said Staver. Before she was
admitted to Boston Children’s Hospital, Justina was being treated for
mitochondrial disease, a rare genetic disorder, by Dr. Mark Korson, the chief
of metabolism at Tufts Medical Center. At Boston Children’s Hospital, a new
doctor, in the seventh month of his internship, changed the working diagnosis
from mitochondrial disease to somatoform disorder, shifting her treatment from
physical to mental. When Lou and Linda Pelletier tried to discharge their
daughter the following day, February 14, 2013, and return her to care at Tufts
Medical Center, DCF took Justina as a ward of the state and moved her to Bader
Five, the psychiatric ward, where she remained for eleven months. Today Justina
is confined at Wayside Youth and Family Support, a nonmedical treatment
facility. She is suffering every day with excruciating pain, and her health is
rapidly declining.
“The State of Massachusetts cannot make Justina a
prisoner merely because her parents followed the medical protocols recommended
and administered by a respected medical institution responsible for her care,”
Staver said. “The more light shed on the
situation, the more it becomes apparent that the behavior of DCF and Boston
Children’s Hospital is indefensible,” said Staver.
Sunday night Staver joined Megyn Kelly on the Fox News
Channel’s The Kelly File to discuss this outrageous abuse of
governmental power.
Check back with BW for continuing developments.
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