CPS Medical Kidnap Protest Idaho’s Kootenai Health

Public protest regarding CPS and Kootenai Health drew 85 concerned citizens and the attention of local media. Health Freedom Idaho has received many reports of Kootenai Health coercing parents into keeping their children in the hospital longer and agreeing to treatments or testing for their children that they would otherwise have declined. Some parents have reported being treated differently if their child is not vaccinated according to the CDC schedule. They strong-arm parents into complying by threatening to call Child Protective Services (CPS) if the parents don’t agree with the suggestions of the medical staff in relation to the medical care of their child. Even when the parents comply, CPS is still frequently called, and the parents are often visited by CPS social workers and police at their homes within days of discharge. #parentsrights #KootenaiHealth

Concerned citizens came to Kootenai Health to publicly protest the policies and practices of Kootenai Health. This hospital has frequently been coercing parents into accepting their advised medical treatment of their children under the threat that if they do not, Child Protective Services will be called. When the parents, out of fear, accept the treatments, Kootenai Health still frequently has called CPS.

The families return home to face visits from a CPS social worker, and usually, uniformed police officers. The social workers and police officers who demand a home inspection and observation of the family, and interview all of the children in the home. This is always done without a warrant. The consent parents give to allow these government officials to enter the home and interview children is frequently obtained under duress.

Kootenai Health has claimed that their hands are tied by Idaho Code. They believe that they must contact CPS every single time there is the possibility of medical neglect. But, medical neglect is not clearly defined in the statute. Having questions about treatment, wanting a second, independent opinion, wanting to wait for test results, and wanting to explore alternatives does not constitute neglect.
There are many hospitals in Idaho working with the same statutes that are not frequently threatening the parents of their patients with CPS, so the laws are hardly the problem. The problem appears to be a disregard for building trust in the doctor/patient/parent relationship. The hospital frequently resorts to coercion, extortion, and bullying, which destroys, rather than builds trust.

Also, there is the totality of Idaho Code, which includes the following statutes passed in 2015: What the laws ALSO say:
32-1010. INTENT OF THE LEGISLATURE — PARENTAL RIGHTS. (1) The interests and role of parents in the care, custody, and control of their children are both implicit in the concept of ordered liberty and deeply rooted in our nation’s history and tradition. They are also among the unalienable rights retained by the people under the ninth amendment to the constitution of the United States.
32-1011. PARENTAL RIGHT TO THE CARE, CUSTODY, AND CONTROL OF CHILDREN. Parents who have legal custody of any minor child or children have the fundamental right to make decisions concerning their care, custody, and control.

CASE AFTER CASE OF UNSUBSTAINATED CASES OF CPS
CALLED IN BY KOOTENAI HEALTH

Parents and children from the Coeur d’Alene area took time out of their busy schedule to send a message to Kootenai Health on September 11th, 2019.

These are the demands of these concerned parents:

• Kootenai Health IS using coercion of parents, threatening to call CPS, to get parents to keep their children in the hospital longer and accept treatments that may not be necessary for the health and welfare of the child.
• Kootenai Health is using a limited view of Idaho Code to justify their threats and their calls to Child Protective Services even for parents that completely comply with the treatment recommendations.
• Kootenai Health is not fostering a relationship of trust with the parents in the community. They should be operating from a position that trust must be earned and not extorted.

The limited resources of Child Protective Services should only be necessary for criminal abuse and neglect and not to build business revenue for the hospital.

Kootenai Health preempted the protest with an email to their employees in which they claimed that the “protesters” have a history of “videotaping interactions and misrepresenting them to advance their opinions.”

See the Kootenai Health email to their employees at IDAHOCPS.org
Decide for yourself if they seem interested in healing the relationship of trust with these concerned parents, many of whom have had a personal and terrifying experience at Kootenai Health on the very subject of the protest.