Inset: Joshua Bailey (Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office). Background: Idaho Falls Community Hospital, where Joshua Bailey allegedly refused to let doctors treat his daughter as she was dying from sepsis (Google Maps).
An Idaho father allegedly refused to let doctors save his daughter from dying, with cops saying he believed “the hospital machines” were causing her health issues “and she did not need any help.”
Joshua Bailey, 34, is charged with felony injury to a child in connection with the alleged denial of medical care. His daughter is a 10-year-old with cerebral palsy and two feeding tubes, East Idaho News reports.
Court documents obtained by the local media outlet say Child Protective Services was called in and assisted with getting the child the care she needed, ultimately overriding the father’s protests, but her current health status was not immediately clear.
“Due to the (doctor’s) opinion that (his daughter) needs medical care now or she will die, (law enforcement is) enforcing imminent danger and he did not have the ability to refuse care anymore,” court documents said about what preceded the call to CPS.
Police say Bailey’s child was brought to Idaho Falls Community Hospital on Sept. 23, 2025, with a serious bacterial infection and life-threatening sepsis complications. Bailey refused to let doctors run tests on her or the girl’s feeding tubes to see if they were causing the infection, according to the court documents.
Doctors told police that they tried to talk to Bailey about the potential dangers his daughter was facing and informed him that they believed she had gone septic due to an “elevated heart rate and depleted oxygen supply that was causing choking spells,” according to the documents.
Hospital staff allegedly told Bailey that if she “did not get treatment soon, her odds of dying went up significantly every hour.” They said that for every hour spent not treating Bailey’s daughter, her odds of dying increased by 10%.
Bailey allegedly told the doctors that “the hospital machines were causing these issues and she did not need any help,” according to the court documents.
“With his decision to refuse care for his daughter, he was placing her life in imminent danger,” police say in the court documents.
Deputies with the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office were called to the hospital for a report of a “potential disgruntled parent.” Deputies launched an investigation and a judge issued an arrest warrant in December 2025.
Deputies didn’t take Bailey into custody until this month. He posted a $25,000 bond and was released on June 14. He is scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on July 1.
