15-POY3-28

Fourteen-year-old Justina Pelletier has battled mitochondrial disease for much of her life. She had a medical team at Tufts New England Medical caring for her. When her health took a turn for the worse a year ago, her long-time doctor at Tufts urged her parents to send her to Boston Children’s Hosptial to be seen by her long time gastroenterologist who had just moved to Children’s. Within three days, Children’s disagreed with the diagnosis of Tufts, instead insisting that she her issues were psychological in nature, and had taken custody of Justina— the Department of Children and Families was now in charge. The family continues to fight for Justina who has been on a locked psych ward for over a year. A judge recently ruled that Justina may move to a non-hospital setting, and has set the stage for custody being moved back to her parents after a period of time. Her parents, Linda, and Lou, and older sister Jennifer are allowed to visit once a week.