WEST HARTFORD -- This summer marks five years since Justina Pelletier was released from Boston Children's Hospital and allowed to return to her West Hartford home.
Back in February 2013, the hospital advised the Department of Children and Families in Massachusetts to take custody of Justina when her parents wanted to take her to another medical facility.
They claim doctors refused to accept Justina's previous diagnosis of mitochondrial disease, and treated her instead for psychological problems. She was held against her and her family's will at the hospital for 16 months before she returned home to Connecticut in June 2014.
The family's ordeal thrust them into the national spotlight. Dr. Phil, cable news networks, congressional hearings, rallies and conferences. But through it all, Linda and Lou Pelletier and their other daughters have been focused on getting Justina better.
FOX61's Breat Hardin sits down with Justina and her parents in a FOX61 EXCLUSIVE.