Children have been dying at an alarming rate in Idaho due to untreated medical conditions, such as pneumonia and bacterial infections, after being denied treatment by their parents who belong to the Followers of Christ sect, a faith-healing group that believes God heals the faithful. According to an autopsy, newborn Malachi died from pneumonia and bleeding lungs in October 2023, which would have been treatable with antibiotics and hospital care. Since 2015, Idaho children have been dying at a rate of almost one per year due to these preventable conditions. The state's lack of legal pressure on the sect allows parents to prioritize their faith over medical treatment for their children.
Written by the local model on 2026-08-25,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Almost every year since 2015, Idaho children in a faith-healing sect have died of treatable conditions such as pneumonia and bacterial infections that turned to sepsis.
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that → heal → sepsis
Former members of the Followers of Christ sect say parents are pressured to follow doctrine that forbids medical care.
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that → say → care
Those who stray risk shunning, they said.
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they → stray → ?
Oregon officials say after the state put legal boundaries on faith healing, more parents sought care for kids.
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parents → say → kids
Idaho, by contrast, has kept its faith-healing protections.
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Idaho → keep → protections
These highlights were written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.
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who → write → story
A sheriff’s deputy opens the door of an Idaho farmhouse where a newborn baby has just died.
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baby → open → farmhouse
It’s almost 10 p.m., but the house is filled with adults and children seated anywhere they can find a spot: in reclining chairs, on the wood-stove hearth, on a chest of drawers.
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they → ’ → drawers
Some of the women hold babies in their laps.
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Some → hold → laps
“Sorry,” the deputy whispers as the door creaks.
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door → whisper → ?
No one greets the officer.
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one → greet → officer
No one speaks or even looks at anyone else, casting their eyes instead at the floor or around the room.
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one → speak → room
The deputy’s video camera records as he walks through the front room and past a bedroom door adorned with children’s artwork.
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he → record → artwork
Inside the bedroom, newborn Malachi’s mother sits in a recliner.
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mother → sit → recliner
His body lies in her lap, covered by a blue blanket.
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body → lie → blanket
As people in uniform ask Malachi’s parents about his birth, death and the two days in between, members of the family’s church — one of at least four Followers of Christ churches in Idaho — watch from folding chairs.
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members → ask → chairs
People come and go from the bedroom; one woman cradles a sleeping toddler.
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woman → come → toddler
Malachi died from pneumonia and bleeding lungs, according to an autopsy.
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Malachi → die → autopsy
It would have been treatable with antibiotics and newborn care in a hospital, said doctors who reviewed his death records for ProPublica.
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who → say → ProPublica
But Malachi’s parents belong to a faith-healing sect that doesn’t believe in medical care, based on a literal interpretation of several Bible verses.
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that → belong → verses
The Followers of Christ sect believes that God heals the faithful and that life and death must be left to God’s divine will.
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life → believe → will
When the coroner’s deputy lifted Malachi’s body to take it away that night in October 2023, there was no wailing or sobbing from his parents.
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deputy → lift → parents
Malachi’s father stood quietly as his mother hung her head and rested it in her hand.
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mother → stand → hand
A pediatrician who reviewed Malachi’s death records said a baby in his condition would have been gasping for air, turning blue from lack of oxygen and breathing so hard that the outline of his rib cage was visible.
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outline → review → cage
It was the first time the coroner and sheriff sent their deputies out to that house, to interview those parents and document the slow suffocation of a newborn boy.
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coroner → send → boy
The next time was 13 months later, when their next newborn, Liam, died from the same treatable condition that killed his brother Malachi.
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that → die → brother
In any Idaho household not steeped in faith-healing, those two deaths would be investigated as crimes.
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deaths → steep → crimes
Idaho law says parents can’t endanger, injure or neglect their children or let them suffer.
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them → say → children
To do so is a crime, and if the child dies as a result, the parent could be charged with manslaughter.
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parent → die → manslaughter
But those laws do not apply to children like Malachi and Liam.
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laws → apply → Malachi
Since the 1970s, Idaho’s criminal and civil laws have allowed parents who belong to Followers of Christ and the state’s other faith-healing sects to pray rather than seek medical care as their children die.
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children → allow → care
Lawmakers in Oregon, where the same religious groups exist, removed the state’s faith-healing exception to child abuse laws nearly 30 years ago, countering the overwhelming pressure former Followers say parents face from their congregations.
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parents → exist → congregations
More parents chose to get medical care for their children after the change, Oregon prosecutors and detectives said.
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prosecutors → choose → change
Idaho lawmakers have chosen a different path.
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lawmakers → choose → path
Since 2014, they have rejected repeated efforts to dial back Idaho’s faith-healing exemption, instead crafting legislation to further limit the role of anyone but a parent when it comes to children’s health and safety.
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it → reject → health
The state has codified “parental rights,” banned vaccine requirements in schools and childcare centers, and made parental consent a prerequisite for medical care of minors.
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consent → codify → minors
Legislators also have tried to narrow the definition of “medical neglect” for all families to only the most life-threatening situations, but those attempts have failed.
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attempts → try → situations
Local and national media outlets have reported on deaths among Followers of Christ families in Idaho.
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outlets → report → Idaho
ProPublica went further, enlisting the help of experts to determine which of those deaths could have been prevented.
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which → go → deaths
ProPublica gathered death records from coroners and police in five Idaho counties and shared them with more than a dozen pediatricians and birthing specialists.
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ProPublica → gather → pediatricians
…and 152 more, not listed.
