A proposal in Congress that would block federal tax dollars from states with policies that “conflict with personal liberty” is one strategy in an effort to assist Massachusetts parents who lost custody of their teen daughter to the state because of a psychiatrist’s disputed opinion.
Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Texas, who is considering introducing a bill, is joining with the nonprofit legal advocacy group Liberty Council, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights and Republican state Rep. Marc Lombardo to call for the release of 15-year-old Justina Pelletier from Massachusetts state custody to the care of her parents.
They are also calling for further investigation into the influence of psychiatrists’ opinions that result in state removal of children from their families.
“I find certain state policies involving individual and personal medical decisions to be disconcerting,” Stockman said. “It is my firm belief that we should not provide federal dollars, through NIH grants, to states that maintain policies that conflict with personal liberty.”
Stockman said Thursday that taxpayer dollars also “should not be spent on research performed upon people without their consent.”
A Liberty Council investigation revealed that Boston Children’s Hospital psychologist Dr. Simona Bujoreanu diagnosed Justina Pelletier with a mental illness called Somatoform Disorder after only 25 minutes with the teen, without contacting other physicians.
Bujoreanu is researching Somatoform under a grant from the federal National Institutes of Health. Any ward of the state is subject to research being performed on them without their consent, even if the research is not primarily for the ward’s benefit.
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The group also is working with Stockman’s legislative staff to explore numerous other state remedies.
The strategies include medical malpractice actions and other tort claims that Liberty Counsel said “could hold those responsible for this atrocity accountable for their extreme conduct.”
...Staver said Liberty Counsel will file an appeal or a habeas corpus petition challenging the legality of the state’s custody.
“In all my years in practice, I have never seen a more barbaric overreach by a state agency,” he said. “The family has asked us to pursue every legal means necessary to get their daughter home.”
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/04/state-snatched-girl-prompts-move-in-congress/#q0SevA7MlQzTjM3w.99
"hold those responsible for this atrocity accountable for their extreme conduct.” Amen to that.
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