EDITOR’S NOTE: Due to inclement weather in Dallas over the weekend, Glenn and his staff were still unable to make it into the office. Instead, Glenn broadcasted his radio program from home. As a result, no video clips will be available from Monday’s radio show. You can listen to the entire Glenn Beck Radio Program HERE. The story below is based on one of Monday’s radio segments.
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On Friday, Glenn spoke to Cristy Balcells, executive director of Mitoaction.org, who is working with the Pelletier family to help them regain custody of their 15-year-old daughter Justina, who has been kept in Boston Children’s Hospital against her parent’s will since February.
The medical facility took custody of her when her parents argued against their daughter’s diagnosis. The hospital claims that the parents over-medicalized the girl, leading them to take custody. The parents, meanwhile, have provided ample evidence that every time they’ve taken their daughter to the hospital or to the doctor, they did exactly what the doctors told them to do. But now the family finds themselves in a bitter dispute to get their girl home. It’s been ten months since they lost custody, and following the latest court hearing, Justina was still not allowed to go home.
“Pat and I have been on this story about this 15-year-old girl in Boston's Children's Hospital, and it bothers us so much,” Glenn said on radio this morning. “We both believe this is in the class of Terri Schiavo. This is an injustice that has to be rectified.”
During her time in the hospital, Justina’s condition has gotten progressively worse because she is no longer being treated for the mitochondrial disease she had been diagnosed with at a young age.
Justina was diagnosed with mitochondrial disease a few years ago and was able to live a normal life. In February, she got the flu and was taken to Boston Children’s Hospital to see a specialist. It was at that time the problems began.
A new team of doctors took over Pelletier’s case and immediately questioned her previous diagnosis. They re-diagnosed her with ‘somatoform disorder’ – a mental illness. Her parents, Lou and Linda Pelletier, were not allowed to take their child out of the hospital and were instead escorted out by security. Within four days, they lost custody of Justina.
“The family was told that Justina would be placed on the psych floor, which is where she has been since February,” Glenn explained. “And she is not being treated, and the doctors that she has had her whole life are not allowed to see her. The hospital also hasn't allowed tutors from West Hartford School District where she's from to see Justina. She is not allowed to see any friends, and she's only allowed to see her parents once a week for an hour. The reports now are that she has regressed to a first grade level of learning.”
“When she came in, she could walk under her own power. Her muscles have regressed now. She has to walk with a harness. Her legs are now cold and large,” he continued. “And up until she went into the hospital, she had never been on any antipsychotic medication. Now that's all she's doing. The parents are missing all kinds of work and the hospital is still fighting.”
Last week, the family went to court in hopes of bringing their child home, but the judge requested another week to sort through the case. This morning, Glenn pleaded with the audience to spread this story as far and wide as humanly possible and to visit Mitoaction.org – and organization that is working with the Pelletier family to help them bring Justina home.
“The best thing that you can do is to spread this story as far as you can. I want you to go to Mitoaction.org and look for this story and what you can do to help,” Glenn said. “Get this story out as far and as wide as you possibly can. I mean I'd love to see this girl come home for Christmas… It's an outrage. Please get involved. Mitoaction.org.”
