In May, 2008, guardians of 43 Seven Hills Pediatric Center patient’s filed an objection to the Settlement Agreement, but this was overruled by the presiding Federal Magistrate Judge, Kenneth Neiman. The same families asked to have the plaintiff class decertified so that their children or siblings would not be included in the process. This motion was rejected by Judge Neiman. Presently the families’ attorney, Stephen Sheehy, and attorney Anthony Fiotto of the law firm Goodwin Procter, are appealing the Settlement Agreement in the U.S. Appeals Court for the First Circuit.

The family members’ gravest objection is that the Massachusetts Department of Mental Retardation is not competent to judge whether their loved ones will benefit from being forcibly moved from the Pediatric Center over the objections of family members. The family members believe that their loved ones will die if deprived of the level of intensive, on-going medical and nursing attention that can be provided only at the scale of the Pediatric Center. Their doctors agree with this opinion. No doctor was consulted when the DMR gave a list of 31 Seven Hills Pediatric Center patients to Judge Neiman, classifying them as capable of benefiting from community placement (that is, suitable for moving from Seven Hills Pediatric Center with or without agreement by their guardians). The parents are fighting against this process, especially the court’s and the state’s assignment of complete decision-making control to the medically unqualified DMR, in order to save the lives of their children. We ask the public to join us in this life-and-death struggle for justice and preservation of life.