In Idaho, as in other states, medical neglect of a child is a crime. However, if an Idaho parent (or guardian) chooses for his child treatment by prayer or spiritual means alone and the child suffers, even if he dies, the parent is exempt from criminal prosecution.

Not only does Idaho law shield the neglectful parents from prosecution, it prevents law enforcement and social workers from stepping in to protect a dead child’s siblings from suffering a similar fate

The consequences of these barbaric laws were recently laid out in three maddening, heart-wrenching articles by the independent, non-profit newsroom, ProPublica[…]
The news organization had medical experts review those records to determine whether the deaths would have been preventable with appropriate medical care. The review found that at least 15 babies and children died between 2015 and 2025 from illnesses that could have been successfully treated which, they concluded, was “almost certainly an undercount”[…]
As well, experts identified numerous preventable losses of babies who died during birth or in utero very close to their due dates, cases labeled by the coroners as stillbirths[…]
Sect members who go to the doctor are shunned by their communities to reinforce its beliefs and, in the patriarch’s words, make sure they don’t go again. Family and neighbors form a protective shield around parents whose children die from neglect[…]
It’s hard to imagine any rational person disagreeing, but Idaho legislators have so far resisted changing the 1971 faith-healing legislation. In fact, the state legislature, in 1976, added a law that kept children from being placed in foster care solely for lack of medical attention