Matthew Heller writes:
After nearly six years of litigation, an Idaho jury will now hear a high-stakes case that pits child protection laws against the right of a couple to decide whether their infant daughter should have a spinal tap test for meningitis.
The long-awaited trial will focus on a critical five-hour period which began when Corissa Mueller brought her daughter Taige to the emergency room of a Boise hospital with flu-like symptoms and ended when Dr. Richard MacDonald — over her vehement objections — performed the “lumbar puncture” procedure.
After consulting with MacDonald, Boise Police Detective Dale Rogers had authorized the procedure under a child protection law that allows police to “seize” a minor without a court order when “necessary to prevent serious physical or mental injury to the child.”
Read more about this case on On Point, which also provides links to related court documents.