The case surrounding Justina Pelletier is a whirlwind circus that has seen the 15 year old in hospital custody since February of this year. On the back of a Friday ruling by a Boston family court judge, the weird saga continues as Pelletier has been ordered to remain under hospital care until at least January 15.

It all began on February 10, when Justina, previously treated and diagnosed with rare mitochondrial disorder, was sent to Boston’s Children’s Hospital to combat complications resulting of what was believed to be the flu. Doctors there disagreed with the previous diagnosis, instead believing her to have somatoform disorder, a mental illness that results in pain and gastrointestinal distress with no identifiable physical causes and no characteristics that could be attributed to another illness.

It was there that doctors determined that Justina was the victim of “medical child abuse,” meaning that Justina’s parents,  Lou and Linda, had subjected the girl to unnecessary treatments while denying her proper psychiatric care. Hospital documents indicate that Justina’s parents were argumentative with doctors, and Linda was allegedly observed feeding Justina subtle hints as to her condition.

The treating physician at Children’s wrote in his notes that “he was concerned about the care she had received from numerous providers in different facilities and states, the number of invasive procedures Justina has been submitted to, [and] the black-and-white thinking of Mom.” It’s been noted that parents of children with rare, chronic diseases can be difficult to deal with due in large part to the stress of managing that child’s care.

Children’s took action when Justina’s parents attempted to check her out of the hospital, instead contacting Massachusetts’ DCF to request emergency care of the girl. She has remained in their care ever since. This isn’t the first accusation of child abuse abuse for the Pelletiers. They were previously investigated by Connecticut’s DCF, though the case was eventually dropped.

Although one of Justina’s sisters has mitochondrial disorder (which has a genetic component that allows it to be passed to other family members), Children’s is confident in their diagnosis and is refusing to allow Dr. Mark Korson (Justina’s doctor at Tufts who initially misdiagnosed her) to further participate in her care.

The Boston Globe notes that there have been five cases, including Justina’s, in the last 18 months in which Children’s has contacted DCF over disputed medical diagnosis that led to the possible termination of parental rights.

“A lot more people are afraid to check into Boston Children’s,” said Julie Gortze, a member of mitochondrial disorder support group MitoAction. “People all over the country go to Boston Children’s.”

Though it’s unclear when the saga will end, one sad fact remains: A 15 year old girl won’t be home for Christmas this year.