This is ridiculous. Since when is medical treatment mandatory?

https://www.foxnews.com/us/louisiana-missing-newborn-alabama-parents-arrested

Louisiana police have accused a couple of escaping from a hospital with their critically ill newborn baby and driving 400 miles to Alabama where they were taken into custody.
Police spent hours Saturday looking for Shaun Levy, 39, and Brittany Parrie, 28, before arresting them in Monroeville, Ala., according to reports.
At the same time, “Baby Levy” was taken to a hospital in Monroe County, Ala., where she was listed in stable condition, Louisiana State Police said.

Police issued an advisory Saturday after they said a newborn baby was taken from a hospital in Many, La., by Brittany Parrie, 28, the mother, and Shaun Levy, 39, the father. (Louisiana State Police)
The baby was born to Parrie in a hospital in Many, La., around 1 a.m. Saturday with a life-threatening condition, police said without elaborating.
She was taken about three hours later as doctors were preparing to transfer her to a hospital in Shreveport for medical intervention, according to police.
Police said Parrie and Levy took off with the baby in a Cadillac Escalade that had just been registered in Alabama but was said to have been equipped with Texas plates.

Shaun Levy and Brittany Parrie were arrested in Monroeville, Ala., after escaping a hospital with their newborn baby, according to police. (Louisiana State Police)
“Baby Levy and Parrie both had intravenous drip feeds (IVs) connected at time of departure,” police said.
Police issued an alert advising that Levy was considered “armed and dangerous.
Police haven’t said yet what charges will be filed against the couple, KBMT-TV reported. It was unclear whether they had attorneys.

Sometimes I don't know what to think about these type of stories...on the one hand parents have been abusive to their children, including babies. On the other hand the state has caused deaths of babies "too" young. So maybe they were bad parents or maybe they were trying to save themselves from that type of scenario?

I read something from the local affiliate's FB that her own sister commented in and apparently, she's a massive drug addict. Keeps getting babies taken away for it.

So maybe that's why.

I read something from the local affiliate's FB that her own sister commented in and apparently, she's a massive drug addict. Keeps getting babies taken away for it.

So maybe that's why.

Since CPS is run at a state level, it's possible they were running away from CPS. I would suspect, though, that these state agencies communicate with each other and Alabama CPS could have stepped in and taken the child. Perhaps this reporter failed to tell us what they were actually arrested for, but saying they were arrested for leaving the hospital with their own child just gets people accustomed to the idea that doctors have rights over parents and should be obeyed "or else!" If they are indeed awful parents (probably true), just take the child and wait until they actually do something illegal before you arrest them.