I don't know all the facts of the case in explicit detail but I can see that Justina has deteriorated under the hospital's care. i can see that she has a loving family, sisters and friends that she loves and is being denied contact with them. I can see that a medical institution and staff have overstepped their boundaries by what they have done.
Justina is not a small child who is being physically or mentally abused. She is a young teen who should be old enough to express if she is being abused, old enough to know if she wants to refuse this hospital's care and go home be with her parents.
Can you imagine the torment she is going thru with all of this? How much mental damage is being done to this poor child by isolating her and ripping her out of her home and her life? You have NO idea how painful that can be for a teenager to be incarcerated and isolated when they have done NOTHING to deserve it. She is not guilty of anything, even if her parents were (and I do not believe they are) yet SHE is being punished and locked away, deprived of a normal life and normal teenage freedoms. She has no control over what happens to her at all.
In my case, the hospital knew I had great insurance and wanted the payout. I made a friend there who had insurance that covered 2 years of inpatient stay and she had to stay 24 months. basically, we all knew that you would be "cured" on the day your insurance ran out. What a freaking scam. i know Justina's case is not like that but i DO know that some hospital and doctors will do as they please and totally disregard what is right or what is best for the patient.
Actually, I do know some of what she is going thru. (Long story ahead)
Here is what I know about hospitals holding children hostage against their will when there is NO medical reason to do so. It happened to me when I was a teen. I was 17 years old, had graduated high-school a year before at age 16 and had a full-time job (and car) and was saving money to attend college. My mother did NOT want me to go to college (she wanted me to join the service). I refused. A week or two later she told me to pack a few clothes cuz we were going to visit my gram.
Instead we pulled up to a facility much like Justina is in. My mother apparently told them that I was doing drugs (I had never touched an illegal or recreational drug in my life), that i was partying all the time (nope, worked and came home, no friends, no boyfriends, NO social life at all (I was new in town and am a homebody anyway.) She told them I was suicidal and had threatened her. (Total BS. I was a bookworm who stayed to herself, in her room when not at work, I avoided her as much as possible).
Mom knew I was about to be 18 in a few months and that her rule over me was about to end. I had already looked into emancipation before but figured I would just wait out the year or so till I was 18. She figured if she could institutionalize me, have me declared mentally incompetent that she could retain control over me and get a SSI check too!
So there I was, a bright and motivated teen who had graduated from high school a year early by doing extra classes in summer and by correspondence, I had a fulltime job, had amazing SAT score, had never done drugs, gone out partying etc. But the hospital kept me for 72 hour "observation". I figured they would let me go after 72 hours since my bloodwork would not show any drugs and they could call my employer and/or school to see what kind of person i was.
Nope! Instead they investigated my insurance and found that it covered all expenses for 3 months of inpatient care. This was MY insurance from MY job, nothing from my mom at all. Sure all the drug test came back negative, they could find nothing wrong with me to diagnose me with but they kept me anyway. For three effing months!! I was declared miraculously cured the minute my insurance was up.
I spent 3 months on a unit with some very messed up kids who were nothing like me. Every aspect of my life was controlled, even when I could go to the bathroom because "rules were rules". I got to go outside maybe 3 times during that 3 months. They made me attend their joke of a high school even though I had graduated highschool the year before "cuz rules are rules, everyone must attend school". I had stuff stolen from me by staff.
Luckily i had a decent doctor. He told me that I could consult an attorney at any time to fight to get out but that my 3 months would be up before I would make any headway with a lawyer in the courts, in fact, fighting them might make it worse and cause other staff members to come down harder on me.
Justina does NOT belong in a place like this. She does NOT belong in an institution. It will damage her, probably for life. I bet she will develop a dislike or distrust of doctors and medical professionals. There in NO reason for her to be locked up this way and to be denied access to loved ones.
There are thousands of severely mentally ill children who need inpatient care and can't get it because the beds are full. We KNOW this is practically an epidemic. Parents of violent, mentrally ill kids can't get inpatient care and have to live in fear.
But yet, Justina, who is a threat to no one, is locked up like a criminal. I hope Justina sues the H*LL out of these people when she gets out.
This whole case infuriates me. WHY are they punishing this child this way. It is clearly obvious that she is getting WORSE in the hospital's care.
