General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: In early March, Judge Johnson put Justina Pelletier's medical care back with Dr. Korman/Tufts [View all]moriah
(8,312 posts)And I can believe that. There are many that don't believe in a number of diseases. Some they've just never heard of. Others, they may not believe *that* person has it. Or the guy said the wrong thing and it was misinterpreted.
Looking at family history and the symptoms she's shown and that have been documented, I am more inclined to believe more physical than psychological features are at play. The hospital seemed to have a hard time believing she was in as much pain as she's in -- to the point that they've labeled her pain somataform. As in, completely psychological, in her head. With the continued GI problems and pain, she sounds just like a stereotypical MNGIE patient, and the original thing around her intestines wasn't psychological. For somataform pain disorder to be diagnosed, all other medical explanations must be excluded. Diagnosing it is very questionable when there's another disorder that accounts for all symptoms and has been diagnosed by another doctor who specializes in it, especially when there's a family history of the same illness.
I'm not going to say it's completely impossible that Justina got jealous somehow of the attention her sister was receiving and started feeling these pains that were all in her head.
I agree that wingnut hysteria sucks. But let's not be so on the rush to defend the system and forget about the child it's supposed to be protecting. Every system makes mistakes, it's part of being designed by humans.