Failed Drug Tests

[+EdwardGlen]

The thought of a child being taken from the parent because of something like this makes me sick to my stomach.

 

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http://criminaljustice.change.org/blog/view/losing_a_baby_over_a_poppy_seed?me=nl

 

The birth of a couple’s first child is supposed to be a joyous occasion -- and for the first three days, it was for Elizabeth Mort and her partner Alex Rodriguez. But then the commonwealth of Pennsylvania took their young daughter away after the hospital where she was born reported the mother for testing positive on a drug test. Her drug of choice? An “everything” bagel from Dunkin’ Donuts.

 

“The best thing in my life had been taken from me and there was nothing I could do to get her back,” Mort says. For five excruciating days, officials with Lawrence County Children and Youth Services (LCCYS) kept mother away from child, all based on a positive drug test they didn’t even bother to investigate -- and which the hospital never even informed the mother about. Now, aided by the ACLU of Pennsylvania, the parents are fighting back with a lawsuit against both LCCYS and Jameson Hospital.

 

“We decided to file a lawsuit so that Jameson Hospital and Lawrence County Children and Youth Services could not do this to another innocent family,” she explains. “They need to research and ask questions before they jump to conclusions.”

 

Mort and Rodriguez’s daughter was taken by the state a mere day after they returned from the hospital. Despite a test of the child failing to uncover any trace of illicit drugs, a pair of LCCYS caseworkers and two police officers showed up at their door bearing a court order legally entitling them to seize her. And that never would have happened were it not for Jameson Hospital’s written policy of subjecting mothers-to-be to urine drug tests -- and to then report them to the state for testing positive if they exceed an exceptionally low threshold that is far more stringent than the one the federal government applies to its own workers.

 

While a federal employee would fail a drug test if they exceed a threshold of 2,000 nanograms/mL of opiate metabolites, a patient at Jameson Hospital would fail if they exceed a threshold of just 300 nanograms/mL -- or just 100 nanograms/mL for morphine. At such low thresholds, there’s a good chance other parents will have to suffer -- and likely have already suffered -- the pain of having their child taken away from them based on nothing more than their choice of breakfast food.

 

Indeed, "Jameson Hospital's policy of drug-testing all obstetrical patients for opiates at cut-off levels so low that they are triggered by the mere consumption of a poppy seed bagel, and then reporting these unreliable results to LCCYS is plainly misguided,” says Patricia Dodge, one of the attorneys representing Mort and Rodriguez.

 

But “misguided” is probably an understatement. As detailed in the ACLU’s lawsuit, the state “is removing newborns without any reasonable suspicion that they have been abused or are in imminent danger of abuse, in violation of parents' fundamental constitutional rights, and Jameson is aiding and abetting that constitutional violation by carrying out a drug-testing regime, the primary purpose of which is to further the goals of LCCYS, not provide medical care to patients.”

 

Keep in mind: what happened to Mort and Rodriguez isn't a mere fluke -- it's the direct result of an established hospital policy in dire need of reform. In fact, the lawsuit states that one caseworker admitted LCCYS made a mistake by removing Mort's daughter from her home, explaining that they had experienced problems with Jameson Hospital in the past. And if its drug-testing policy doesn't change, rest assured more parents will have their children seized by the state over nothing more than a poppy seed.

 

To prevent future incidents, Jameson Hospital needs to start treating its mothers-to-be like patients, not prospective criminals. And it can start by raising its "positive" drug-testing threshold to the level used for federal workers. But it shouldn't stop there. Unless there are signs of abuse or actual evidence a child is in danger of abuse, hospital staff should not report parents to child services over just one potentially faulty test result, especially when the hospital knows that will result in the state taking the child away without any further investigation.

[bobandtorey]

Sad story for sure but she has helped others so they wont have to go through that some thing like us after are case makes it's way

their are story's already been told that their case will get dismissed because of us thats a great thing to have people come up to us and thank us

[greenbuddha]

It is VERY hard to sue these 'agency' people because they are normally protected by laws that cover them as a 'government agent'.