Boise couple's forced spinal tap case to be heard by 9th Circuit

BOISE, Idaho (KBOI) - The federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will be hearing a case in Boise next week.

The judges will be hearing a case that's been going through the court system through since 2002. A lawyer for an Idaho couple has said his clients' constitutional rights were violated in 2002 when officials forced their infant daughter to undergo a spinal tap after she was brought in with a low-grade fever.

The girl was briefly taken into state custody after Corissa Mueller refused to allow workers to perform the test that detects life-threatening infections. The family believes in limiting medical intervention.

A federal jury decided in 2010 that the couple's constitutional rights were not violated when Boise Police ordered their 5-week-old daughter to have a spinal tap against their wishes. The couple then appealed to the Ninth Circuit.