Doctors disagree all the time over the diagnosis and treatment of patients, but there is a new and remarkably contentious frontier in pediatric medicine. A difference of opinion among doctors at separate Boston hospitals has escalated with stunning speed.
In just the last 18 months, Boston Children’s Hospital — which given its reputation attracts many of the toughest cases from across the Northeast — has been involved in at least five cases where a disputed medical diagnosis led to parents either losing custody or being threatened with that extreme measure. Similar custody fights have occurred on occasion at other pediatric hospitals around the country.
The family of this 11-year old girl, Nicole, and their lawyer say the family was threatened with the loss of custody of their 11 year old daughter during a battle with the medical team of a presitigious pediatric hospital over the girls care. Although the girl had previously been diagnosed by another doctor with the autoimmune disorder known as PANDAS, which can cause the sudden onset of obsessive compulsive disorder symptoms in children, the parents and their lawyer allege that the hospital’s medical team insisted that they drop that diagnosis in favor of a psychiatric one or they would turn matters over to the state child protection agency. Nicole does not walk, but scoots around on her knees.