Letter to Kootenai Health

I was made aware of the removal of Diamond Mehlhoff’s baby on the Wed before Thanksgiving.  I am appalled by this act of discrimination against a mother with a disability.  According to your website you don’t treat people differently based on disabilities.https://www.kh.org/non-discrimination/.  Unfortunately, for baby Elijah, that has not been the case for his mommy. 

I would like to remind you that parental rights are GRANTED to us by neither the hospital nor the state.  These are our God given rights with which you should not interfere.  If you were given the absurd right to determine that a mother is not fit because she has an illness, where would you stop asserting that control?  What if the parent is blind?  What if the parent has cancer?  What if the parent breaks an arm in a car crash?  Would you deem these scenarios appropriate to remove ones own child from a loving home?  I’m sure that you see the slippery slope that this can become when an entity determines that it  can dictate the appropriate physical condition of a parent.  

When a parent is in need the community has a beautiful way of coming together to meet that need.  You see the example of this with the church family that has surrounded Diamond and Ari and helped them through this trying time.  They have and will continue to help this little budding family.

The opposite is true when the government gets involved.  When the government and departments get involved families are ripped apart and children are put into a foster care system that is proven to be much more dangerous than the home environment.  

The decision to interfere with the rights of these parents has definitely hurt your reputation in the community that you are there to serve.  We have seen many comments to our posts that parents have felt bullied when it came to their vaccine decisions and the general lack of care that they have received in your facility.

The atrocity of taking disabled parent’s children seems to be on the rise.  Organizations have been created out of necessity to protect these parents and children.  I never want to see Idaho participate in such an abhorrent act.  I trust that you will do what you can to remedy this situation.  I’m also hopeful that going forward you will honor our parental rights and respect where they originate from.  There is much more good that can come from bringing a family and a community together than from tearing it apart.   

Miste Karlfeldt
Executive Director
Health Freedom Idaho

Learn More about Elijah’s story at Reunite Elijah and Idaho Newborn Kidnapped by CPS