Here is a link to the actual document Boston Childrens told Justina Pelletier's parents to sign.
No parents in their right mind would have signed it.
The BC doctors thought Justina’s symptoms were caused by a somatic disorder (her brain making her feel symptoms) rather than the physical disorder of mitochondrial disease her Tufts doctors had diagnosed her with. So they came up with a "treatment plan" and told the Pelletiers to sign it.
When they refused, BC got DCF to take away custody, and then put her in a locked psychiatric ward and limited visits with her family to one hour a week. She was 14 years old (remember what it's like to be 14) and suddenly she was whisked away from her parents and put in the charge of strangers -- who were out to prove a diagnosis.
The document is linked below. Here are some of the highlights. The Pelletiers were supposed to agree:
To the hospital taking away the medications she was on to prevent seizures and an irregular heartbeat (even though she’d had a stroke at the age of 7)
To the parents not discussing diagnostic test results, or past medical history with on- call residents (i.e., the physicians most directly involved with Justina’s care)
To limiting their communications in the hospital to the neurology team only
To not calling in any doctors for second opinions
To not requesting any diagnostic test or consultation except for NEW symptoms (i.e., not for the chronic illness she arrived with)
Justina’s parents wouldn’t sign this document and so they lost custody for 16 months. This should send a chill up the spine of any parent with a minor child who might end up in an emergency room some day.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2673977/This-never-happen-Teen-held-against-hospital-16-months-describes-ordeal-finally-released.html
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