I'm writing because a five-day trial just wrapped up in Boise, and I'm genuinely scared about what it means for families like mine. Dr. Stacy Seyb, a maternal fetal medicine specialist, had to sue the Idaho State Board of Medicine and Ada County Prosecutor Jan Bennetts just to be allowed to treat patients in severe medical emergencies — patients who are gravely ill but haven't crossed the line into "imminent death" that our current law requires. That's not medicine. That's a doctor waiting until someone is dying before he's legally allowed to help. We've already watched OB-GYNs leave Idaho, and we've heard stories of women airlifted out of state because providers are afraid to act. That fear is real, and it's costing lives and dollars.
Idaho should be a place where doctors can do their jobs and families can trust that a hospital will treat them. Right now, our law is so narrow that good doctors are forced to choose between their license and their patient. That is not a values debate — that is a public safety failure. A judge shouldn't have to fix this. Our legislature should. I'm asking you to work to expand Idaho's medical exemptions so that doctors can treat patients in serious medical emergencies without waiting for someone to be minutes from death, and to protect providers from prosecution when they are acting in good faith to save a life.
Please — fix the exemptions so Idaho doctors can care for Idaho families.
