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 man is accused of blocking doctors from providing potentially life-saving treatment to his daughter, with investigators alleging he insisted that “the hospital machines” were behind her medical problems and that “she did not need any help.”
Joshua Bailey, 34, faces a felony child injury charge tied to the alleged refusal of medical treatment. According to East Idaho News, the girl is 10 years old, has cerebral palsy, and relies on two feeding tubes.
Records cited by the outlet state that Child Protective Services was contacted and helped secure urgent care for the child, despite Bailey’s objections. Her condition was not immediately disclosed.
“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,” the court documents state, describing the events that led authorities to involve CPS.
Police said the girl was taken to Idaho Falls Community Hospital on Sept. 23, 2025, suffering from a severe bacterial infection along with life-threatening complications from sepsis. Investigators allege Bailey would not allow physicians to perform tests on either his daughter or her feeding tubes to determine whether they were the source of the infection.
According to the documents, doctors told police they repeatedly tried to explain the seriousness of the situation to Bailey. Medical staff said they believed the child had become septic, citing an elevated heart rate and dangerously low oxygen levels that were triggering choking episodes.
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.
