Massachusetts DCF Takes Custody of Justina Pelletier; Court Imposes Gag Order After Parents' Media Advocacy
In February 2013, Boston Children's Hospital reported the Pelletier family to the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families after they sought to transfer their 14-year-old daughter Justina to Tufts, where she had previously been treated for mitochondrial disease. DCF took custody, and after her parents Lou and Linda Pelletier began speaking publicly to the press about the case, a juvenile court judge imposed a gag order on the father; violating it, he was found in contempt. Justina was held in state custody for roughly 16 months.
Boston Children's Hospital psychiatrists rediagnosed Justina Pelletier with somatoform disorder and reported her parents for 'medical child abuse' after they attempted to discharge her against medical advice. A Suffolk County juvenile court granted the Massachusetts DCF emergency custody on Feb. 14, 2013. As Lou Pelletier gave interviews to Fox News, the Boston Globe, and other outlets, Judge Joseph Johnston issued a gag order restricting him from speaking publicly about the case; the judge later found Pelletier in civil contempt after he continued speaking. Justina was returned to her family in June 2014. The Pelletiers filed a federal civil-rights lawsuit against Boston Children's Hospital and four clinicians; a Suffolk County jury returned a defense verdict in February 2020. The case became a widely cited example of state child-welfare action intersecting with parents' protected speech and media advocacy.