diff --git a/org.hl7.fhir.utilities/src/main/java/org/hl7/fhir/utilities/xhtml/XhtmlNode.java b/org.hl7.fhir.utilities/src/main/java/org/hl7/fhir/utilities/xhtml/XhtmlNode.java
index 0b01556d3..ff5b3f10e 100644
--- a/org.hl7.fhir.utilities/src/main/java/org/hl7/fhir/utilities/xhtml/XhtmlNode.java
+++ b/org.hl7.fhir.utilities/src/main/java/org/hl7/fhir/utilities/xhtml/XhtmlNode.java
@@ -397,6 +397,10 @@ public class XhtmlNode implements IBaseXhtml {
       XhtmlDocument fragment = new XhtmlParser().parse(val, "div");
       this.attributes = fragment.getAttributes();
       this.childNodes = fragment.getChildNodes();
+      // Strip the <? .. ?> declaration if one was present
+      if (childNodes.size() > 0 && childNodes.get(0) != null && childNodes.get(0).getNodeType() == NodeType.Instruction) {
+        childNodes.remove(0);
+      }
       this.content = fragment.getContent();
       this.name = fragment.getName();
       this.nodeType= fragment.getNodeType();
diff --git a/org.hl7.fhir.utilities/src/test/java/org/hl7/fhir/utilities/tests/XhtmlNodeTest.java b/org.hl7.fhir.utilities/src/test/java/org/hl7/fhir/utilities/tests/XhtmlNodeTest.java
index 9a405349a..bee8fe594 100644
--- a/org.hl7.fhir.utilities/src/test/java/org/hl7/fhir/utilities/tests/XhtmlNodeTest.java
+++ b/org.hl7.fhir.utilities/src/test/java/org/hl7/fhir/utilities/tests/XhtmlNodeTest.java
@@ -46,5 +46,14 @@ public class XhtmlNodeTest {
   }
 
 
+  @Test
+  public void testProcessingInstructionNotPreserved() {
+    XhtmlNode dt = new XhtmlNode();
+    dt.setValueAsString("<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?><div xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml\">help i'm a bug</div>");
+    assertEquals("<div xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml\">help i'm a bug</div>", dt.getValueAsString());
+    assertEquals("<div xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml\">help i'm a bug</div>", new XhtmlNode().setValue(dt.getValue()).getValueAsString());
+  }
+
+
 
 }
\ No newline at end of file