Justina Pelletier to Remain in Massachusetts DCF Custody

Earlier this month, I wrote about the case of Justina Pelletier, a teenage girl who has been the center of a year-long-plus custody battle between her parents (Lou and Linda Pelletier) and the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (MA DCF). The case has drawn national attention and sparked some rather heated opinions. The majority of articles, blog posts and comments have been strongly supportive of the Pelletiers, with most framing the situation as government overstepping its bounds and infringing on parental rights. Few took a more nuanced approach, sticking to the known facts and avoiding speculation.

For a little background, in 2012, Justina was diagnosed with a mitochondrial disorder by Dr. Mark Korson, Chief of the Metabolism Service at Tufts Medical Center. After suffering a bout of the flu in 2013, with subsequent gastrointestinal problems, Dr. Korson recommended she see her former gastroenterologist, who had moved from Tufts to Boston Children's Hospital (BCH). When she was admitted to the ER, the BCH physicians questioned the mito disorder diagnosis and suspected, instead, that she had a somatoform disorder. Justina's parents disagreed with BCH's proposed psychiatric treatment plan and were going to take her out of BCH to continue her mito disorder treatment. Fearing that this would delay proper psychiatric treatment and result in unnecessary medical treatment that would put Justina at increased risk of harm from the drugs prescribed for mito disorder, the BCH physicians called in the Department of Children and Families, fearing medical child abuse.

Thus began a thirteen-month courtroom and media spectacle. The latest development was announced yesterday, March 25.

The Case of Justina Pelletier Calls for Nuance and Moderation

I've given a fair bit of thought as to whether or not to write this post. I may end up inadvertently offending people who have very firm opinions on the matter. The subject is rather controversial, evoking very strong emotions on both sides of the issue, which has gained national attention. The main problem is that what is known stems predominantly from media reports, with verified facts being unavailable. This is the case of Justina Pelletier, a 15-year-old girl who has been the center of a custody battle for over a year between her parents and the state of Massachusetts. The majority of coverage has taken the side of the parents. Most of the people speaking out do so on behalf of the parents, often quite vehemently decrying the Department of Children and Families (DCF) and Boston Children's Hospital (BCH), which started the ordeal. Articles siding with DCF are almost non-existent, but like their counterparts, take a very firm position based on media reports. Rarer still are measured, nuanced analyses of the story.

The dearth of more neutral approaches, and the vehemence with which people have spoken out about this, prompted me to write. I am not going to make any firm conclusions. I will not take a side. There isn't enough verified, primary source information available for me to do so. Instead, I will summarize the details that have been reported and talk a little about the possible scenarios: that the parents are right and that DCF and BCH are right. It is a complex topic about which I'd like to start a conversation, so feel free to post your thoughts in the comments below, but keep it civil.

It's That Time o' Year

As the title says, it's that time of year again. Many holidays just happen to fall right around now: Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanza, Saturnalia, Festivus, Solstice and so on. Some of these involve the giving of gifts. Some do not. Some parts of the world lie covered in snow and ice (unless you happen to be in certain parts of New England this year and haven't seen any dusting of snow stick around...not that I'm bitter or anything). Some celebrate with a glass of wine in the sun. It also just happens to be the end of the tax year.

I brought this up a couple years ago and thought it could use a bit of a repeat.

Because Preventing Child Deaths is a Bad Thing?

Coming up on June 13, 2011 in London is a fundraising conference organized by the Global Alliance for Vaccines & Immunisation (GAVI). GAVI describes itself as:

Launched in 2000, the GAVI Alliance is a global health partnership representing stakeholders in immunisation from both private and public sectors: developing world and donor governments, private sector philanthropists such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the financial community, developed and developing country vaccine manufacturers, research and technical institutes, civil society organisations and multilateral organisations like the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Bank.

Their goal is to provide rapid and affordable access to vaccines for poorer nations. With the conference, they are trying to raise funds to be able to provide immunizations for approximately 243 million children in poor and developing countries. By immunizing against pneumococcal disease, Hib and rotavirus (all of which are prominent causes of child mortality in the target countries), among other diseases, GAVI hopes to reduce the number of deaths caused by these diseases.

But it appears there are some people who aren't too happy about that.

Wanted: Sculptor/Artist for a Project

UPDATE Oct. 26, 2011: Although I am no longer seeking artists for the development of this project, I encourage you to take a look at the unveiling taking place from October 28-December 2. The final pieces are digital works, rather than physical models. If you have an interest in helping to bringing the virtual into reality, please drop me a line. Thanks to all those who have sent me e-mails. I really appreciate your eagerness and interest!

I have a slightly unusual request of my readers. I have a project in mind, but I need the help of someone who is good at sculpting or modeling human figures, either in clay/plastic or CGI. If you or someone you know has these skills and is interested in helping me out, please contact me. If you have samples of previous work, please include it in your e-mail. Please pass this along and thank you for your help!

Update: I've received several inquiries from people interested in helping out. So, I thought I'd share a little bit more info here, in case anyone else is interested in lending a hand. The figures I'm looking to have created are action figure style, similar to those historic action figures of Edgar Allan Poe, Blackbeard, etc. Similar scale, each with a few props. The figures do not need to be posable, as I will just be posting pictures of the figures (though if you can create a posable one, even better!) here, with full artist attributions. I will not be able to pay the artists, so this is something that is more for fun and a chance to get your name and work out there.

Please, only serious inquiries. If you are interested and have the skills to create something like I've described, please feel free to contact me at the link above for more information.

A Harsh Reality: Wakefield and Medical/Scientific Fraud

If you are a regular reader of this somewhat irregularly updated blog, you probably have already heard the news. Andrew Wakefield, whose 1998 Lancet paper was fully retracted, has now been accused of fraud. Investigative journalist, Brian Deer, wrote a rather lengthy piece for the British Medical Journal detailing the evidence of fraud committed by Wakefield. I won't go into a detailed analysis here, since it has already been covered at Respectful Insolence, Bad Astronomy, Left Brain/Right Brain, Just the Vax and elsewhere. The story has been broadcast on local news stations, as well as on CNN and Fox News. There is plenty of reading out there for those who are interested.

Instead, I'm going to take a somewhat different approach. I'm interested in what Wakefield's supporters will do now.

'Tis the Season

Every December, there is something that is on a lot of people's minds. Of course, there's wintery weather, for those in cooler climes. Preparing for time with family ranks pretty high. For those of a religious persuasion, and even some who aren't, there are all the decorations to take care of, trees to set up and malls to visit. Lots of stuff going on.

But I'm not talking about any of those things. No, there is something else that figures prominently in many people's thoughts:

Charitable giving.

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