Yesterday Hot Air posted an article about the commonwealth of Pennsylvania seizing the newborn child of a mother who was guilty of eating an everything bagel before the hospital did a routine drug test. Evidently Pennsylvania routinely does drug testing on expectant mothers during prenatal doctor's visits and new mothers in the hospital. The testing can probably be justified by saying that it gives the doctors a heads-up if they are going to be dealing with the baby of someone addicted to drugs or puts them on the alert if a mother may not be a competent mother. The drug tests on this mother taken during her pregnancy had all been negative, but this was not taken into consideration after the hospital test. If you are going to take a child away from a new mother, you had better be sure your drug test is reliable. In this case it really wasn't.
The article at Hot Air reports:
"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 article includes the video of the Mythbusters episode where the hosts of the show illustrate that poppy seeds will cause a positive read on a drug test. I understand the desire of state authorities to protect children, but I believe they overstepped their bounds (and their common sense) in this case.
Leave a comment