One of the things that our society must do if we are to survive is take certain groups of people down about twenty notches. These groups include doctors, judges, and social workers. All three of these groups have fallen into believing that they are elites who should be ruling over the rest of us. There was a time when people like this would receive a good thrashing and would learn to mind their own business. Sadly, in the name of "safety" and "for the children," we allow them to run over the rest of us.
You aren't likely to have any success suing the doctor. Idiot legislators writing laws to appease idiot constituents who want all kinds of "protection for the children" have written laws in a way that protects arrogant busybodies but not innocent citizens. In a just world, you'd be allowed to sue for malpractice and slander. The doctor would have his name dragged through the mud in public and would learn to mind his own business and keep his prejudices to himself.
Your best bet at this point is to have your girlfriend find a new doctor and make clear to him that his stupidity and arrogance caused him to lose a patient. Both of you should tell as many people as possible about the situation to hurt his practice as much as possible. If you were thinking of changing your insurance carrier and your other insurance option doesn't include him in the plan, you should make the change and let your insurer know that his actions are part of what caused you to change. He may be protected from lawsuits, but if the insurance companies are afraid to deal with him, you'll have hurt him in a way that counts.
You should see a lawyer about dealing with the DSS. Too many bureaucrats love to mistreat everyday people. Most of them aren't this way. Most are just regular people trying to make a living and do what's right, but enough are drawn to these jobs because they enjoy using the power of the government to hurt people. (The BTK killer was the perfect example.) What they don't like is attention from lawyers. You don't want to make the situation with the bureaucrat confrontational too soon, but you want him/her to know that you aren't interested in being pushed around.
People hear of cases where children are severely abused but continually returned to the parents who abuse them. When they complain, the court system replies that the laws make it very hard to separate a child from abusive parents permanently. If they aren't paying attention, people don't understand why removing a child is so hard.
The answer is in stories like this one. For every heartbreaking case of a child abused, there's another heartbreaking case of an innocent family torn apart because some self-righteous busybody doesn't like how the family is living and tries to use the power of the government against that family. When confronted with the reality that their children could be taken because the neighbor doesn't like some aspect of their lives, most parents will start calling their legislators and insist that the government not have too much power to remove children.
Is there a solution? Yes, the solution starts with laws that make it harder for the bureaucrats and busybodies to cause the least inconvenience to people. Before DSS or some similar alphabet soup organization can even contact a family, they should be required to have a strong probable cause that real harm has occurred. The fact that someone has snakes, or guns, or big dogs, or doesn't take their kids to church, or takes their kids to church too often, or doesn't let them go outside enough, or lets them go outside too often, or any other of thousands of personal choices should not be strong enough evidence by itself. People who make complaints without this evidence should be thanked for their concern and given no further information. If they press the issue, they should be cited for harassment. Only if there is real evidence of harm should the bureaucrats be allowed to ask for a warrant and begin questioning the family. These steps would protect innocent families and give them the confidence to allow the government to take the next step.
The next step would be a streamlined process to remove children from parents who hurt them. When a child is burned, beaten, molested or harmed in some real way, the parent should receive no more than one or two chances to change his or her ways. At that point, the parent should go to jail and the child should be placed for adoption.
Of course, those who like causing trouble for other people or who profit from these activies would never support this kind of change. They are having too much fun thinking that their every ignorant, self-righteous opinion should bring the authorities on those of whom they disapprove. If I ever come to believe that I have only six months left to live, those people would do well to stay clear of my path.
Bill
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It's not how many snakes you have. It's how happy and healthy you can keep them.
