Parental Rights & Medical Child Abuse
We all want to protect children who are experiencing true abuse. But in the name of doing so, countless children who are not being abused are experiencing the trauma of being taken from their parents...or of having a disconnected "professional" instead of a loving parent make key medical decisions for them. The news items and research below explore this key area of parental rights.
Research - Parental Rights & Medical Settings
Here are several in-depth papers written on what is happening to parental rights in medical settings.
Medical Ethics Concerns in Physical Child Abuse Investigations
These detailed stories about innocent families who were traumatized with false abuse claims shows how often the medical industry is failing to "first do no harm."
Bad Medicine: Parents, the State, and the Charge of "Medical Child Abuse"
Learn about how medical child abuse is often claimed simply because a parent doesn't agree with a doctor's planned course of action.
Be an Informed Parent.
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Thanks to our generous partners, we're able to keep an eye on what is happening in the area of parental rights. Here are some stories related to parental rights in medical settings.
"Quick Takes" on Medical Stories in the News
Note: Parental Rights Foundations does not necessarily agree with all views expressed in these articles. They are provided here to give a glimpse into what is happening in the news.
2018
Grant Family - A trip to the pediatrician's office resulted in a nightmare for this Texas family.
"Judge Bain hopes lessons will be learned in this case, and not only at CPS. She thinks the DA's office and the judge, in this case, may have approved the removal of the children too quickly."
Zayvion - "Last week, Judge Leonard Weiler agreed. He ruled there was zero evidence of medical neglect on the mom's part, and that she had acted within her rights in taking Zayvion home." Yet despite this, this little boy was taken away for four months.
Kingston Holmes - Parents in Oakland, CA, were told their son would be pulled off breathing machines yesterday. They pleaded for more time, believing they still saw signs of life in their son, and many others rallied to their side. The hospital reversed the decision, and baby Kingston is now at a different hospital.
While Parental Rights Foundation does not know the details of the case to comment on them, Kingston's story reminds us of how effective it can be to stand up for parental rights...and how easily they can be taken away.
Oliver - When U.K. hospitals thought there was no other option besides a heart transplant because of a tumor located there, Oliver's parents were able to bring him to America, where his tumor was removed without the transplant. While there are certainly differences between the cases, it raises the question about Charlie Gard and Alfie Evans: Were their doctors wrong too? In Oliver's case, his parents were able to seek alternate treatment, but the courts did not allow Charlie Gard or Alfie Evan's parents that right.
Jahi McMath's Life Mattered - "With all the roar these days of keeping families together, why is there so little media attention to the plight of American families of brain-injured children who’ve been forced to separate by medical elites making bright-line mortality judgments based on murky diagnostic criteria for what constitutes life?"
California Parents Lose Custody of 2-Year Old Daughter When Asking for a Second Opinion Before Removing Child’s Kidney - This article shares how 2-year-old Grace Alleluia was taken from her parents when they asked for a second opinion. Her father, Christopher Vega, earned a Purple Heart fighting for our country in Afghanistan. He fought for us, but now he is having to fight for his daughter.
It is the kind of thing that they, like most parents, thought "couldn't happen in America."
Medical Kidnapping | Is Your Child the Next Justina? - This episode of Michelle Malkin Investigates explores the story of Justina Pelletier, a teenage girl whose visit to Boston Children's Hospital turned into a lengthy nightmare. "And I think what Americans need to understand is that there are many Justina Pelletiers. It's not just here in Massachusetts; it's across the country."
2017
Arizona's DCS: Why Are Kids Taken Away? Too Often the Answer Is Unknown - For the Ontiveros, a trip to the hospital resulted in a traumatic separation. “Statistically, the removals of Christopher, Irving and Carolina from their home for several days barely registers as a blip in the DCS system. But to the children, and their parents, it was terrifying.” (See the beginning and end of this article for the story.)
2015
New York Times: The New Child Abuse Panic - "Few things are tougher for a parent than dealing with a child’s serious medical condition, particularly if it is complicated and hard to diagnose. The parent has to make hard choices about treatment, navigating conflicting advice from doctors or even rejecting one doctor’s opinion and seeking another.
"Recently, the situation of these parents has gotten even harder. Some doctors and hospitals have begun to level a radical new charge — 'medical child abuse' — against parents who, they say, get unnecessary or excessive treatment for their kids."
The Controversial Child Abuse Epidemic Tearing Families Apart - "...[her mom] didn’t know it then, but only six years later, her continued attempts to treat [her daughter's] worsening condition could not only threaten the custody of her daughter, but result in criminal charges."
17-Year-Old Kidnapped by CPS! - Imagine the state taking your son away because you sought multiple opinions for treating his pain. Here's a video from TeenTake sharing the tragic story from a few years ago of Isaiah Rider.
Going to the Children’s Hospital? Bring Your Lawyer. - The Diane Redleaf cited in this story is an ally of the Parental Rights Foundation.