Slashdot Mirror
Anonymous's Latest Target: Boston Children's Hospital
Brandon Butler writes: "Supporters of the faceless collective known as Anonymous have taken up the cause of a young girl, after the State of Massachusetts removed her from her parents earlier this year. However, the methods used to show support may have unintended consequences, which could impact patient care. On Thursday, the Boston Children's Hospital confirmed that they were subjected to multiple DDoS attacks over the Easter holiday. Said attacks, which have continued throughout the week, aim to take the hospital's website offline. Similar attacks, including website defacement, have also targeted the Wayside Youth and Family Support Network. Both organizations are at the heart of a sensitive topic, child welfare and the rights of a parent."
Members of Anonymous are now calling for a halt to the attacks.
who?
Hardly..
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
I've worked in healthcare.
The company I worked for had their services hosted for at a data center. That Data Center also hosted some Banks.
Groups like anonymous think they are performing some social disobedience by DDoS the banks, Also DDoS the actual Data center. While it took a few minutes for the network to switch over there were a few hundred doctors who couldn't access their software, for that time.
XKCD described these attacks like vandalizing a bill board. But it is more like vandalizing a bill board by shooting a gun at it, and not knowing who or what is behind it.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
... are what discredit them as being anything other than a bunch of malcontents.
Is, why the girl was removed from her parents? Seems kind of hard to take sides on this without the full story. if someone could provide a link to the issues with the girl that'd be great.
...which is certainly convient for somebody, isn't it?
aka Fucktard Mob, just one symptom of a fucktard country.
Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
If the smooth operation of a hospital's web site has any effect on patient care, I'm not sure I would entrust my mortal shell to such a hospital.
Ezekiel 23:20
The case in which the girl has been removed from the custody of her parents
is complex, and exactly what is both best for the child and correct in the sense
of justice for all is not easily determined even when you know the back story.
Anonymous doesn't have the right to act as both judge and jury, and they
fucked up badly this time. I personally hope they get slapped very hard indeed.
Attacks to a website could impact patient care? If there is any truth at all to this (which I really doubt) then people should be made aware of it immediately. Thanks Anonymous, I really want to know if I'm going to get patient care at a hospital where that care could be compromised just by a problem on their website.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
Anonymous are a bunch of cunts.
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
Blame the victim is popular on Slashdot. If a person doesn't have perfect digital security, run all their services themselves, and stay on top of everything, why it is their own fault if they get hacked!
Of course the people who think that then would get extremely angry if someone broke in to their house, despite their piss poor physical security (almost nobody has good security on their house). Basically it is just a mentality of "I can do what I want but you can't do anything to me."
You still don't understand how this works, do you?
I heard about it on the radio a couple of weeks ago. This case is an absolutely appalling abuse of power.
Advocates Fight for Justina Pelletier, Teen Held by State in Psych Ward
One day Justina Pelletier was a seemingly healthy teenager performing jumps and spirals at a skating show and six weeks later, on Feb. 10, 2013, she was in the emergency room at Children's Hospital in Boston after a severe bout with the flu, refusing to eat and barely able to walk.
Her parents, Lou and Linda Pelletier of West Hartford, Conn., say their daughter was diagnosed and being treated at Tufts Medical Center for mitochondrial disease, a rare genetic disorder with physical symptoms that can affect every part of the body. Justina's sister Jessica, 25, is also being treated for the disease.
But three days later, a team of doctors at Boston Children's said her symptoms were psychosomatic, according to the family. The hospital then filed a complaint with the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families, as required by law, because they suspected the parents of child abuse for subjecting their daughter to invasive medical treatments and denying her mental health therapy. ... more
Pelletier Family Files Habeas Corpus Pleading, Points Out Disturbing Facts About Boston Children’s Hospital
... Among other things, the Petition also argues that the requirement to issue detailed written findings of fact and conclusions of law justifying DCF’s intervention has never been met. Never has the juvenile court issued such required findings of fact or conclusions of law.
“This case comes down to the simple fact that new doctors at Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH), who had no experience with Justina, came up with a different diagnosis than her expert treating physicians at Tufts Medical Center,” said Staver. “The state cannot take children from their parents when the parents make reasonable choices for their medical care. This case is outrageous,” said Staver. .... Justina has gone from a competitive figure skater to being confined to a wheelchair,” said Staver.
Fourteen months ago, Justina, now fifteen years old, was seized by Massachusetts DCF after her parents, at the direction of Dr. Mark Korson, took her to Boston Children’s Hospital to see Dr. Alejandro Flores, a gastroenterologist who had previously treated Justina when he worked at Tufts Medical Center before he transferred to BCH. Dr. Korson, Chief of Metabolic Services at Tufts Medical Center, was Justina’s primary physician who was treating her for Mitochondrial disease. Instead of allowing Justina to see Dr. Flores, Justina saw Dr. Jurriaan Peters, a BCH resident only seven months out of medical school. He brought in Dr. Simona Bujoreanu, a psychologist who coauthored an article in which she contends that in up to 50% of children who present with physical complaints, the complaints are not physical but mental. Without consulting with Dr. Korson or Flores, Dr. Bujoreanu rendered a diagnosis of Somatoform disorder. Without a thorough review of her care, she opined that Justina’s physical complaints were mental, not physical. BCH then presented the family with a new treatment plan to discontinue all medical care and medications and which forbade any second opinions. When the parents refused to sign the new treatment plan and requested that Justina be discharged so they could take her back to Tufts Medical Center, BCH called DCF, and DCF prevented the family from discharging Justina
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
No seriously, with the entire Internet being mapped, interceptors at every jump point, how can there even be an "anyonymous" group? They're just a phone call, or rather a phone hack away to pick-your-letter-agency. It's hard to buy these Anonymous Hackers news nowadays, there's gotta me more to it than meets the eye.
Some probably adolescent script kiddies with an ego by far exceeding their intelligence try to play digital lynch mob.
What pathetic little cunts.
Not for the first time showing how much worse than individual stupidity their collective stupditiy can be.
I just saw a popup add on Slashdot.
You finally did it. I bet /. is in Microsoft's back pocket as well.
Whatever next.
All technology is insecure. The extent is unknowable, to the average person, and to many professionals and experts, because of the complexity and explosively exponential interactions. Add in bad actors (including the regulators and government, as people like Snowden so heroically demonstrated) and everything is vulnerable.
Yes, you can choose safer alternatives in some cases. However hosted vs. what? Run your own servers? Then you have to be an expert in dozens, perhaps hundreds of technologies, if your aim is to achieve maximum (if still imperfect) security. Any choice has risks and benefits.
Life is about tradeoffs. Try to maximize or idealize in one area, and you will be bitten, perhaps taken down, in others. Or even in the area you are focused on, because myopia can make you effectively blind.
It's been a year now since Justina was removed from her parents.
It should be painfully obvious if her health issues were as a result of her parents' psychological pressure since she hasn't been under their influence for over a year. So why don't any of the "advocates" fighting for the parents actually show us how Justina's doing now?
If Justina is FINE now, then it would be quite obvious that the Doctors at the Boston Children's Hospital were correct. If she's still suffering from the same symptoms, then the parents have a much stronger case.
If she were my child, there would be no way I would let them stop me from getting her back. If paperwork and appeals didn't do the trick, I would very quickly escalate the actions I took to ensure her safety and care under my responsibility. That might mean intimidation or violence...so be it. They threw the first stone.
The State has absolutely no reason to take these parents' child from them.
What else can happen when an unstoppable force collides with an immovable object?
Munchausen by proxy? That would be tough since they have so little access to her. If anything this is Munchausen by state agency.
Why she has gotten progressively worse in state care over the last year plus? Might that be a sign that treating a physical ailment by psychological means may be ... "ineffective"?
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
From one angle, why do I have a feeling that this possiblility of the system being complex and fragile was deliberately intended to use the patients as potential human-shields against Anonymous? And from another angle, assuming that complexity and fragility was a false claim aimed for trickery, wouldn't that confuse Anonymous' attacks to possibly control and lessen the potential damage caused by their attacks on the healthcare servers? If those healthcare centers are cooperating with the corrupted jurisdictional system, sooner or later, things wouldn't look good at all, neither the cyberspace nor in the streets against the officials. Another way to see it would be the possibility that the system is indeed complex and fragile, that it does affect the patients' alarm system, leading to patients getting either severly harmed or death. Those attacks wouldn't justify the prevention of harm just to return Justina home, and it wouldn't support Anonymous for their cause to help the powerless against perhaps the corporational bullies and corrupts. Classifying Anonymous as a group of criminals that tries to help a girl that was forcefully taken away from her parents return back home is absurd. Being a criminal is one thing, while being a vigilante for the sake of helping the weak is something totally different.
You didn't really get the back story right, and I never claimed that DDoSing the hospital helps at all. I have to say it is odd that you think that.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
Incidentally, an avalanche is generally considered a destructive force.
Little access? They had like 15 _years_ of access to her. What in the fuck are you carrying on about?
As for getting "worse", it could be because the symptoms are in her mind, which is now damaged. Do you remember that nutty cheerleader who had all these crazy symptoms supposedly from vaccines? Any idiot could tell it was in her head, either intentionally or not.
The true test will be to see if she gets better in 5 years, or if they develop better tests for Mitochondrial syndrome.
More and more, Anonymous is looking like a bunch of reactionary vigilante thugs out to lynch anyone they consider to be in the wrong.
There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
I assume this is the Justina Case
https://www.theskepticsguide.org/podcast/sgu/457 has a segment on it.
Yeah, being locked up in a psych ward and being experimented on will certainly convince her that its all in her mind. One year didn't work you say? Oh well how about 5? And if that doesn't work, whats next? Another 5 years? 10 years? At what point do we acknowledge that the noob and the heavily invested (from a career standpoint) "expert" that made the decision that it was psychosomatic might be wrong? I mean, its not like they would be kidnappers if they were wrong or anything... no BCH has no motivation to stick with their decision at all...
But government knows what's best for us!
Having proven that they do not have the hacking skills required to take down any truly evil organizations, like Wall Street and the Federal government, they have set their sights considerably lower.
In doing so, they have run the risk of disrupting medical services to people who have nothing to do with the organization that they are so upset with.
My son is a child with fragile health, and we associate with many other, similar families as a support mechanism. While I am not in the Boston area, we do know families that are there, and who frequent Boston Children's. One of them that we associate with let everyone in one of these support groups know that the patient scheduling system had been affected by the Anonymous operation, and so she was unable to schedule her son's surgery. Boston Children's needs to keep their clinical systems more protected, but the bottom line is that Anonymous is filled with grade-A assholes.
Little access? They had like 15 _years_ of access to her. What in the fuck are you carrying on about?
She has been under state control now for well over a year. She has gotten worse under state control.
If you think this is all "in her head" you are wrong. Go read the ABC News story. There is enough medical history to show that it isn't.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
Everyone agrees that there is something wrong with the child.
The problem is that the parents are fixated on a specific disease which clinical tests do not support. So instead of trying to find out what's really wrong with her, the parents went looking for another doctor who would give them the diagnosis they want. Think about that.
What are the membership fees and where do you sign up?
I heard about it on the radio a couple of weeks ago. This case is an absolutely appalling abuse of power.
I did some Googling on this case in since I hadn't yet heard about it. Found this article:
http://www.slate.com/articles/...
If it's true that the parents shopped around for doctors to perform surgeries, and had extreme surgeries carried out around mitochondrial disease with no diagnostic based diagnosis that raises a ton of red flags.
If you're going to make your kid get a stomach shunt, you'd at least want to run a few tests first, no? It seems reasonable that the doctors would want to separate the child from her parents if they thought they were unreasonably subjecting their daughter to medical procedures. Worst case: Childrens runs the diagnostics that should have been run in the first place, finds evidence of mitochondrial disease, gives the child back, and there is no harm done. If the doctors are right? Then a child's health may have been destroyed for no reason.
BCH is kidnapping and torturing children.
Since the elective representative process is broken. Would you prefer they used guns instead to enact change?
Are operating at a loss....but that's largely because of accounting, and paying execs millions of dollars.
The law says that if a abuse is suspected, it must be reported and investigation must occur. There is no abuse of state power if a child is taken away because there is significant indication that abuse occurs. The problem here is the medical profession. They do not nearly spend enough time admitting they most administer palliatives and in many cases just choose the obvious diagnosis without really checking if it makes sense. Patients are also to blame as they believe the media, which has convinced most of us that a pill or topical solution is the answer to all our problems. So here is a child with a problem. Doctors have 10 minutes to make a diagnosis. Parents are desperate for a solution. Parents may have caused the problem,but if the did then doctors need to treat the parents, not the child. If doctors were trained to treat patients instead of individual problems maybe they could have treated the family. The Boston doctors appeared to be the first to look at the entire medical history, the family, and make a diagnosis. The NYT has monthly articles on patients that suffer because doctors are treating a symptom instead of the patients. I don't if this child has a illness that is treatable by drugs or a procedure, or if the illness requires the parents to change the behavior. What is suggested by the article is past doctors have not been helping her, so with the framework of trying something new, this seems a next reasonable step.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
Pretty much all other means outside of the use of force have failed. What else do you want us to do to help these parants.
Cause frankly, if this dad asked for help to rescue his daughter by force, I will tell you there are quite a few of us ready to come up to Mass and pledge our rifles if need be.
Its great you have a theory, but two sisters having the same genetic disease wouldn't be shocking. If you read the ABC news story above you'll see that there is meaningful medical history there that can't be faked. You're assuming that the chief of metabolism at Tufts medical center is wrong, and that Boston Children's diagnosis, for which there is no diagnostic test, is right. And then there is the fact that Boston Children's apparently has a history of these sort of "contentious" actions as noted in the story below.
Frustration on all fronts in struggle over child’s future
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
Girl has a rare mitochondrial disease, her sibling has been diagnosed with it as well. She was receiving treatment at Tuft's. She was ill with a stomach bug, but has complications (ie: has a access point in her intestines for treatment access). When they contacted the primary physican they work with on their daughter's illness. He informed the family that the gastreoentologist they work with was now at BCH (not too far away). And that they might want to go there since he is already familiar with her and her case.
PROBLEM:
When they arrive, they don't get to see their regular specialist. Instead, a doctor with only a few years of experience decides that she doesn't have mitochondrial disease. Why? Because BCH doesn't really believe it exists (this has in fact led to the death of a 5 year old patient in BCH's care, when the sibling was later diagnosed with it as well and confirmed by three other tests. They released the child. The parents now receive care at Tufts. And their son has greatly improved under Tuft's care. Sadly, their daughter is dead because of BCH.)
So BCH essentially says that ALL of these ailments are in fact in the daughter's head. They seize the daughter. File a claim against the parents for medical abuse. That's right, the abuse the parents are charged with is NOT refusing medical treatment for their daughter, but in seeking medical treatment for their daughter.
Their daughter was locked away for 7 months in BCH's psych ward. Probably about the time the family's insurance quit paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for her to be there. Then she was released into Child Protective Services care. Since being in BCH/CPS' care, their daughter's health has deteriorated. And many are concerned the lack of treatment will eventually kill Justina.
As for the case against the parents. BCH/CPS pretty much disallowed participation (even against the law) of doctors and personel who worked prior with Justina. In fact, they refuse to conduct tests that would prove them wrong. And here lies the crux of the problem.
What BCH and CPS has done constitutes a several million dollar lawsuit. If they back down, they are sure to be sued and lose millions. So they've dug their heels in....
It's pretty insane...but this is the same government that sends SWAT teams to arrest elderly handicapped folk who grow orchids and fail to file the proper paperwork.
I really wish they'd find another way to express themselves and let their voices be heard. This is affecting researchers attempting to find cures and treatments for disease, which I think even they would agree is important work.
a) Mitochondrial disease is not well understood, and Justina in fact shows symptoms that point to such. As does her sibling.
b) BCH had a similar case, they tried to seize a 5 year old girl. Only thing is when Child Protective Services (CPS) went to the home, they realized it was someone who used to work for them and that they knew were not a danger. So custody was restored.
c) But at this point, their 5 year old daughter had gone without treatment for so long. She died.
d) Their son began to show similar symptoms. This time BCH did do a test. The result showed positive. But they did not inform the parents for three months. And still did not act on it. A second test was done by an independent lab. Which also confirmed evidence of mitochondrial disease. Their son was released.
e) Their son has since gotten treatment at Tufts under the same doctor treating Justina. Who is regarded as one of the premier experts in this field. Oh, guess what. After the restoration of treatment, their son's condition improved. Shame their daughter hadn't been treated by BCH, or she'd probably be alive.
f) BCH killed one child and is now killing another.
No! What is going on at Boston Childre's is in no way reasonable. Please read the ABC News story. Does this seem "psychosomatic" to you?
Justina's ordeal began in 2010, when she had severe cramps because of a stomach blockage, according to her father. Doctors at Connecticut Children's Hospital unsuccessfully tried to "flush" her lower intestinal tract and subsequently did exploratory surgery, he said. Doctors found a congenital band, about 20 inches of cartilage wrapped around her colon and removed that and the girl's appendix, he said.
In 2011, when her condition did not improve, he said doctors referred Justina to Dr. Alejandro F. Flores, a gastroenterologist at Tufts.
Does referral to a gastroenterologist seem "unreasonable" for a problems of the bowel and stomach??
You don't suppose that the problem could be with Boston Children's? You might want to read this too:
Frustration on all fronts in struggle over child’s future
The abuse here is by Boston Children's in the form of an ultimatum: abandon the treatment plan from an expert in the medical area where your daughter has been experiencing problems, as proven by surgery, for our treatment plan that says it is all in your daughter's head or we will use state power to seize control of your child.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
Yes, if you want to debate that someone's security suggestion is not reasonable and/or is ineffective, then do so. The point was that people shouldn't be accusing people of "blaming the victim" improperly.
What we know is that several doctors were excluded. Doctors who by law and policy should of been included. What we know is that BCH has a history of issues over this diagnosis, because they don't recognize it.
And hey shithead. Her condition has significantly worsened while she's been trapped and tortured in the mental ward without receiving medical care. Oh, we're not talking about a podunk hospital doctor here. We're talking about a head of Tufts Hospital.
Oh, and pretty much every independent review, has come away in Justina's family's favor.
100% not true.
When this is done, I sadly wager that someone will be dead (probably Justina) and the BCH doctor will lose his license.
So let me ask you this...
When parents refuse to allow their children to receive medical treatment...what do we do? We take their kids away and exclaim that we're erring on the side of real medical treatment.
So why the fuck when a hospital as well known as Tufts, and who is the premier expert in this particular area is treating a child with very good results. Do we let another hospital say, no, we're going to refuse medical care because we think she's just faking it.
WTF
Justina has a GI issue, essentially her intestines down move stuff properly. They get clogged. Rather than remove much of the colin as many recommend for such, the doctor proposed the port be added to allow them to flush.
This was not a "we are doing more than we should", but let's try an alternative to avoid doing a horrendous surgery.
Her sister was tested and confirmed. BCH won't test. They don't beleive in the disease. In fact they killed a 5 year old girl by refusing to test or treat. Her brother later was confirmed to have it. And was dying under BCH care. But after an independent lab also confirmed the boy to have it. BCH released him. He is since doing well, being treated at Tufts by Justina's doctor.
But his older sister is DEAD!!!
Read that FUCKING DEAD!!!! Because of BCH's ego.
It was done largely without basis because BCH doesn't recognize the illness that Justina was being treated for. That is the real issue.
If it was ALL in her !@#$ head, Justina would be getting better. Not worse....
The fact she has gotten severely worse without treatment pretty much shows that BCH's diagnosis was WRONG. And Tuft's is in fact more likely correct.
But you dumb fucks are arguing that it's better to say "oh silly girl, it's all in your head, we're going to refuse to get you medical care, as you continue to sicken and die". And if a parent said this, Child Protective Services would call it abuse. But because Harvard's children's hospital says it....we blame the parents.
But Justina was doing fairly well under treatment at Tufts. She's becoming an invalid under BCH.
you know for once I agree with Cold Fjord here. I know Crazy right.
In further reading of the articles, you will fine that a sibling (her sister) was diagnosed with the same disorder.
This is a clearly an abuse of power for the BCH.
I've read reports by doctors, reports by investigators, reports by even some involved who have admitted that the process done by BCH/CPS violated procedure (for example, those physicians already involved were supposed to be a part of the health review and were not allowed to participate).
And we're not talking about a podunk hospital kook. We're talking about Tuft's another highly recognized hospital.
Long Story Short.
Parents have sick child with rare condition not very well understood.
BCH doesn't believe condition exists. (BCH is already documented with killing one child with this condition.) So when parents arrive and reference diagnosis. BCH immediately assumes the parents are harming the kids.
BCH and CPS kidnap and torture, and likely will kill the child. All while refusing medical care. Because they like "crazy parents" who believe their kid doesn't need medical care because it's all in their silly teenage daughter's head.
BCH's diagnosis has proved wrong by the results. But now BCH and CPS are too invested. To capitulate, admits wrong doing, which will lead to a $10-$50 million lawsuit.
Parents knew something was wrong with their child. They found a doctor who understood the disease.
Mitochondrial disease is similar to fibromylangia and Lyme disease. Two other diseases often assumed to "just be in their head"... and both now fairly much proven to exist.
I have thought about it. And any reasonable dumb ass would conclude the same. After a year of worsening conditions, treatment should be resumed.
Oh, why do most parents go from doctor to doctor. Not because they think something is wrong. But they know something isn't right. And yet, standard tests show nothing. And things get worse. Often children die...
Oh, and you know what...one of the things the parents were accused of? and was used to justify the custody claim?
Her mother expressed that she needed a feeding tube. They felt this was proof of medical abuse and unnecessary. Then two days later, a feeding tube was put in as it was deemed a medical necessity.
WTF
The entire episode stinks in many ways. Denying the parents assess to other medical advice and opinions, DENYING THE PATIENT access to her primary health provider? That's just wrong on many levels! Then using DCF as a club to push their own agenda? The best interest of the patient was NOT being served.
Years ago my sister as a teenager, was having some medical issues. She was taken to a doctor that insisted it was "all in her head, she's just trying to avoid going to school" and advised she be taken to an associate of his that was a psychiatrist, just starting a new practice. My parents bulked at this and took her to another doctor. It turns out my sister was suffering from systemic lupus erythematosus. Had they followed this doctor's advice, my sister would have died from something that "was all in her head".
Yes Anon may be in the wrong with their tactics, but Boston Children's Hospital is also in the wrong in this case.
There have been some things I feel supportive of that 'anonymous' has done. Unfortunately they mostly inspire the desire for them to just go away due to their sheer incompetence. Their 'protests' tend to disproportionately affect the innocent. Some morons may whine it's just unavoidable collateral damage. No, no it isn't. For example, posting information about thousands of credit card users to attack the credit card company. Hey dumbass! You hurt thousands of people to mildly inconvenience a company. In the real world that would be like using chemical warfare to kill off a town so the local morgue would have more 'customers' than they could handle. It's just plain stupid.
There are better ways of handling things, both within and without the law, but your pitchfork and torch wielding mob called 'anonymous' is just a riotous mob causing damage to everything, especially those that are innocent victims, while only inconveniencing those they claim to be targets. I guess they really are without leadership, and it shows.
She was confirmed with GI issues. The shunt, isn't extreme. It was an alternative to the proposition of removing a large portion of her intestines. (The more common treatment which has far greater life long consequences.)
BCH refused to run the tests. They killed a five year old girl because they refused to. When her brother came with similar symptoms. They wanted to charge the mother. But finally ran a test. It confirmed mitochondrial disease, but they didn't tell the parents. Then a second lab confirmed the test. And finally they conceded the possibility their son might have the disease. Family's son is now doing well (being treated at Tuft's by Justina's doctor)...sadly, his older sister is DEAD!!! DEAD!!! DEAD!!!
You can thank the !@#$ at BCH
You will also find... :'-(
That a 5 year old was refused care for the same disease and died. Her brother developed similar symptoms. BCH wanted to charge her. But she had friends (basically worked for Child Services). When they BCH finally relented and tested, without notifying the parents, it showed up as a probable case of mitochondria disease. They still were satisfied and sent the muscle sample to another lab. Who confirmed it a likely case. They finally relented and released the boy, who is doing well being treated at Tuft's by one of the leading experts on this disease (Justina's doctor btw).
But sadly, that boy no longer has a sister. She was killed by BCH.
But I don't believe they cripple and incapacitate a child. And if that is occurring under supposed "proper care", than I would be strongly convinced by any rational review that perhaps a medical condition is at play. And would resume treatment.
There would be an unusually high number of doctors in the ER at BCH.
Relocating your child to
a) a hospital who doesn't make their scheduling system able to be taken down from the outside
b) a hospital that believes in diagnosable medical illnesses,
What a bunch of AOAs (arrogant, obnoxious a-holes). They like to think they're smarter than everyone else, so they don't have to obey the laws that mere mortals have to obey.
Here they're messing up a hospital. In 2012, they posted the wrong address of the guy that tormented Amanda Todd.
Nice going, Anonymous.
They have a center dedicated to it http://www.childrenshospital.org/centers-and-services/mitochondrial-program/overview . She just doesn't have it.
So reading a bunch of news articles now enables you to conclude that actual doctors who actually saw a patient at a constantly top-ranked children's hospital are wrong and don't know what they're doing? Not bad!
Yes, how thoughtless of them to draw international attention to the kidnapping of a sick child. The real issue is that a network may have run slow, not the abuse of a child at the hands of the hospital, involuntarily committed for the benefit of the hospital.
Learn to love Alaska
I found it interesting that she was taken off the medications used for stroke victims which they say was diagnosed via MRI as a large stroke. MRI is a standard diagnostic for stroke or also a CT scan and that it is related to the original diagnosis as it's a possible side effect of the mitochondrial disease. It's also a physical sign that would rule out somatoform disorder or somatic symptom disorders.
Being that it was characterized as a large stoke tells me that the MRI should have shown it clearly making misdiagnoses unlikely.
Did you read that article? It really makes the parents sound like total nut cases.
I know! Who would have though that actually reading the articles would impart so much information, including information about the activities of actual doctors! It's almost like magic.
Frustration on all fronts in struggle over child’s future
... as the chief of metabolism at Tufts Medical Center* sat in his cluttered third-floor office in Chinatown last April, his frustration began to boil over. Two months earlier, Korson had sent a 14-year-old patient, Justina Pelletier, to Boston Children’s Hospital to see a former colleague of his who had previously treated the girl for gastrointestinal problems. But things had rapidly gotten off track.
In short order, a team of different Children’s doctors had disputed Korson’s working diagnosis of mitochondrial disease for Justina and accused her parents of medical child abuse. This paved the way for the state child protection agency to intervene and strip the parents of custody on an emergency basis. From there, Justina, against her strong objections, was moved into the hospital’s locked psychiatric ward. Children’s and the state had ignored Korson’s requests to be included in a roundtable meeting to discuss Justina’s care.
Well, no doubt BCH has "top men" working on the case.
Justina’s hospitalization is the most extreme of a handful of unusually contentious cases over the last 18 months involving Children’s Hospital and the Department of Children and Families.
*Cough * cough*.
* Maybe you've heard of them.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
Te parents say she's worse. The actual medical records aren't public. The parents aren't exactly unbiased.
Learn to love Alaska
If nothing else, the DDoSing gets the public eye on it to ensure the best care possible for the child involved.
Learn to love Alaska
That might mean intimidation or violence...so be it. They threw the first stone.
The State has absolutely no reason to take these parents' child from them.
Unfortunately, many genuinely bad/abusive parents share your view too...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Familicide
A Resident was in on this???? Holy Mother of God.
I work in Healthcare. IT Medical Imaging to be exact (PACS). This is NOT cool. I can tell you from personal experience an attack like this could cripple a hospital. Today many radiologists/cardiologists work remotely. If they cannot access the site than they cannot perform a reading or a 2nd opinion. They are down... done! And the person with the brain tumor or popped aneurysm continues to die while they try to view the contrast shots of the persons brain....
Yes, I know one would think that hospitals have redundant internet connections (and I'm sure some do) but the truth is hospitals have been so strapped for money in recent years that redundancy is NOT always in the best interest of the bottom line.
I have to wonder how many lives were ended due to this DDOS. My job is to maintain hospital business continuity. A down system has the repercussion of losing lives.
This is NOT your banks website. It's a vital utility to our society. It saves lives! Attack someone else!!!!
"The true test will be to see if she gets better in 5 years, or if they develop better tests for Mitochondrial syndrome."
The problem is that she's likely to die within months due to her actual physical condition.
She was a figure skater. Now the court and hospital records show she's in a wheelchair. Improvement? Not so much. And they aren't letting the physician that referred her to a former college of his at BCH get involved, and she apparently never saw the doctor at BCH that she was referred to.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
Yes, she was a figure skater. She was in a wheel chair when she went to the hospital with a severe bowel issue from a (presumably) congenital defect. That she was well before she was sick doesn't relate to whether she's better now than she was when she was first admitted. She's gotten worse since she was discharged from the hospital (presumably because the parents stopped paying when they were legally removed from her life and DCF was put in charge of her care). DCF refusing her care for financial reasons is orthogonal to BCH's care of her when they were in charge of it.
Learn to love Alaska
Now the court and hospital records show she's in a wheelchair.
Citation needed.
If you're going to make your kid get a stomach shunt, you'd at least want to run a few tests first, no?
Many of the classic tests for mitochondrial disease are traumatic and dangerous for the patient - and are also often uninformative. Mitochondrial disease often affects the nervous system which means that sedatives, anesthesia, and pain killers can be ineffective and dangerous - even fatal. For example, to get a brain MRI of a younger patient you're going to need some sedation but the sedation itself could kill the patient and if they happen to vomit (also common in mitochondrial disorders) and aspirate the vomit then they could die from a lung infection (many patients with severe mitochondrial disorders eventually die from lung infections).
Fortunately, that's rapidly changing with next-gen sequencing that can cost as little as a few thousand dollars and require less than a milliliter of saliva (i.e. spit in a tube). But, even then, you have to get "lucky" and have the causative mutation in a relatively well studied and understood mitochondrial protein.
The more fundamental point, though, is that diagnosis of mitochondrial disease would be irrelevant to the GI procedures. If there are GI problems then they may, or may not, need to be mitigated through surgery. But even if you definitively identify the causative mitochondrial mutation, it won't tell you whether you need GI surgery - because even the same mitochondrial mutation can affect different patients differently.
RTFA
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
While I appreciate random guessing as much as anyone, the state is paying for her care since they removed her from her parents.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
violence is fun. just shoot the lawyers and doctors involved in their heads, or kill heir families in front of them and let them live. that will teach them to push people around.
Go Fuck yourself. The article is not a valid citation. Show me the medical records or court records.
Yes, and they pulled her from care. You are asserting that cost isn't an issue? Wile I appreciate your random guessing, it's no more reliable than mine. I note the articles that come up are all months out of date, and very little has private, protected medical details that you claim to be privy to.
Abusive parents always claim it's the system that's out to get them (especially men in a divorce trying to get the kids to prevent support payments. And the system always claims it's infallible. More often than not, both sides are wrong.
I apologize for being so impartial that I didn't crucify the system based on your random guesses and unsubstantiated opinion. I'll try to be more biased next time.
The system sucks. The government is always wrong. The AMA is a union, so all doctors must be wrong 100% of the time because they are all union members. Is that better?
Learn to love Alaska
It's actually a sad sign of the state of our trade: that defacing a hospital's website can "impact patient care". Great systems design, that.
I won't comment directly on this case now. However, having had my own son taken by the state (ostensibly because his mother was taking prescription methadone while pregnant) at the hospital in which he was born, I can say that the system, which is similar in all states because of federally imposed funding arrangements, is based on greed for money. It has nothing to do with the "best interest of the child" etc. And there will never be much improvement until the child (so-called) welfare funding (the Adoption and Safe Families Act) stops promoting state kidnapping, and the family courts become open to public view. They are "confidential", that is, closed to public inspection and criticism.
After years of fighting our case, including an appeal, we lost. There is no winning these cases for the average person. Kids simply do not get returned to their families as the state claims. The exceptions are kids from influential families, kids from other government workers, kids from lawyers, and kids who somehow get publicity. That may be the saving factor in the case described above.
(||) Nehmo (||)
This case is an obvious abuse of state power, but, unfortunately, it is hardly the only one. Many thousands of kids are taken for even less of a pretext.
(||) Nehmo (||)
As you pointed out, it usually doesn't withstand logic.
(||) Nehmo (||)
refused to allow Justina access to a clergy
So it's not all bad news then.
Many happy returns.
You're right. That isn't bad, it is terrible. It is abuse.
But normally they don't deny proper medical treatment.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
But normally they don't deny proper medical treatment.
I'm not sure what you are saying. Sure, kids in foster custody are on Medicaid, and that means that medical care is more or less paid for if someone seeks it. But what is your point?
(||) Nehmo (||)
Yes, and they pulled her from care. You are asserting that cost isn't an issue?
Do you have anything to substantiate that? As of a month ago she was still there. There are newer articles that indicate the same.
The Sad, Scary Saga of Justina Pelletier - March 27 2014 9:17 AM
Justina Pelletier spent the past year in a locked psych ward, even though doctors disagree about whether her condition is psychiatric.
--------
I note the articles that come up are all months out of date, and very little has private, protected medical details that you claim to be privy to.
She's still in the hospital. She is still sick. He illness hasn't changed. The background hasn't changed. If it is reported in the story it is fair game. Perhaps you're just not reading the right stories.
I apologize for being so impartial that I didn't crucify the system based on your random guesses and unsubstantiated opinion. I'll try to be more biased next time.
How would I tell the difference?
The system can suck. The government can be wrong. Doctors can be wrong, especially when pursuing their pet theories.
FTFY.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
You apparently didn't read it.
The child was diagnosed with with rare condition by respected doctors at another hospital. She was having an emergency and her parents took her to BCH for care. The BCH doctors disagreed on the diagnosis and implied the illness was imposed mentally by the parents. They called child protective services and removed the child from their parents care, claiming abuse. It is not OK for this to happen to a normal non-abusive family. It is also not the first time BCH has done this.