“Medical Child Abuse” is the Term Now Used to Legally Seize Children away from Parents

Health Impact News Editor

As people around the country celebrate the homecoming of Justina Pelletier, who was held against her will and the desire of her parents for 16 months over a disagreement on medical treatment, a case in Chicago reminds us that her situation is representative of a larger movement across the country to take children away from parents for the purpose of “medical treatment”.

NBC News in Chicago is reporting that Michelle Rider and her 16-year-old son, Isaiah Rider, traveled from Kansas City to Lurie Children’s Hospital after doctors in her hometown, Texas, and Boston were unable to effectively treat his neurofibromatosis — a painful condition that causes tumors to grow on his nerves. When Isaiah’s pain was reportedly not getting any better at Lurie’s, his mother attempted to have him transferred to another hospital. But doctors at Lurie’s Hospital reported to Cook County Court that Michelle was guilty of “medical child abuse”, as they disagreed with the course of treatment chosen by the mother. As a result, they seized custody of the child and put him into a foster home, allowing the mother to only be able to visit her son twice a week for one-hour supervised visits.

This story has eerie similarities to Justina Pelletier’s story and her parents’ experience with Boston Children’s Hospital. Amid national outcry, even in the mainstream media, the judge over Justina’s case finally released custody back to her parents last week, after a 16-month long ordeal where the parents were charged with “medical child abuse” for wanting to seek different treatment for their daughter.

Lou Pelletier, Justina’s father, has pledged to fight the medical system and the child “protection” services that seized their daughter for 16 months, resulting in her being paralyzed from the waist down. Prior to losing custody, Justina could ice skate and compete in skating events. Lou Pelletier has stated in the press that he believes his daughter was part of a medical experiment, and that they had to gain legal custody to conduct such experiments without the parents’ consent. (Source.)

Health Impact News will continue to cover these stories of medical tyranny and violations of parental rights in choosing their own medical treatments for their children. In these specific cases it is important to note that the parents are not refusing all medical treatment for their children, but simply wanting to pursue other medical treatments from different hospitals and doctors, and getting other opinions to determine the best course of action. But many childrens’ hospitals are now intervening and overriding parents’ decisions and freedom of choice, and there seems to be strong evidence that economic motives for medical research, as well as reimbursement at the state level for foster care placement, has a significant impact on these actions.

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