Many thanks to Priyanka Dayal McCluskey for writing “Health plan curtails access to Children’s’’ (Page A1, April 7). I have been a practicing pediatrician for more than four decades. I trained at Children’s Hospital and am currently on staff. Nonetheless, the unwillingness of Children’s to ease a path for the poorest patients is a travesty. While they are trying to attract patients nationally and internationally, they have turned a cold shoulder to the patients in their own backyard.

A quick poll of my own pediatric practice shows that many patients have been forced to go elsewhere for specialty care. The families of some of my most complex and needy patients — one with Down syndrome, one with post-concussive syndrome, one in remission from leukemia who needs a sleep study, and a patient with a complex genetic condition requiring prior authorization for monthly visits — have all had to spend countless hours slogging through an insurance quagmire in order to continue their complex care at Children’s.

Hopefully this article will allow for the development of easier solutions so that care can be provided without placing the burden on poor patients with complex medical needs.

Dr. David C. Osler, Somerville