PA-Second case, newborn seized because mother flunked drug test due to poppy seeds

[Anti Federalist]

No one is going to seize a newborn baby because the mother flunked a drug test (since when the fuck did that become mandatory to have a child?) over poppy seeds. Get a grip. People still eat bagels.

:mad:



Mom sues Lawrence County over seizure of newborn

Monday, July 18, 2011

By Rich Lord, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

For the second time in a year, Lawrence County Children and Youth Services has been accused in a federal lawsuit of removing a child from a mother's custody after a positive test for opiates allegedly triggered by poppy seeds.

Eileen Ann Bower, a Lawrence County resident whose residence and age were not provided, gave birth to a son, Brandon, on July 13, 2009, according to a complaint filed late Friday. She was stunned, it said, when a blood test at Jameson Hospital came back positive for opiates.

Brandon was taken into foster care three days after his birth, it said, and only returned on Sept. 29. In the interim, Ms. Bower came to the conclusion that the test must have come back positive due to her ingestion, at her last meal before childbirth, of Salad Supreme dressing with poppy seeds.

Ms. Bower is suing the county agency, its caseworker and Jameson Health System for negligence, invasion of privacy and violation of due process, according to the complaint by attorney Stanley T. Booker.

Lawrence County Children and Youth Services Director Jane Gajda could not be immediately reached for comment.

In October, New Castle mother Elizabeth Mort sued the county and Jameson Health, alleging that a poppy seed bagel spurred a positive test for opiates in April 2010 that prompted the seizure of her baby, Isabella Rodriguez. She is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, and the litigation is ongoing.

Read more: http://www.pittsburghpostgazette.com/pg/11199/1161256-100.stm#ixzz1SWGQGU00

[amy31416]

Why are they drug testing expectant mothers who have no prior history of drug abuse?

[Anti Federalist]

Why are they drug testing expectant mothers who have no prior history of drug abuse?

I don't know.

[roho76]

If poppy seeds were banned we wouldn't have this problem now would we? Stupid mundanes.

[Warrior_of_Freedom]

Shouldn't they be trying to get orphaned kids homes, not making more kids orphans? Lul.

[AGRP]

Doesn't the state encourage the practice of crushing holes in the skulls of babies before their brains are scrambled and sucked out?

[aGameOfThrones]

Don't steal kids, the government hates competition.

[Cleaner44]

Don't steal kids, the government hates competition.

+rep

I think all new mothers in Lawrence County should eat bagels with poppy seeds just before giving birth. Overload their stupid system.

[Sola_Fide]

Doesn't the state encourage the practice of crushing holes in the skulls of babies before their brains are scrambled and sucked out?

Not only encourage it through indoctrination, the State steals the money of people who oppose abortion to fund more of it.

Not only does it do this in America, but it does this around the world. The United States government is one huge killing machine. If its not bombing brown babies in the middle east, it is murdering them in the womb in Africa and black American neighborhoods.

This is why Ron Paul links abortion to statism. It is the state declaring, sometimes with other's consent, that a certain class of people do not deserve the protection of the law.

[bunklocoempire]

Not only encourage it through indoctrination, the State steals the money of people who oppose abortion to fund more of it.

Not only does it do this in America, but it does this around the world. The United States government is one huge killing machine. If its not bombing brown babies in the middle east, it is murdering them in the womb in Africa and black American neighborhoods.

This is why Ron Paul links abortion to statism. It is the state declaring, sometimes with other's consent, that a certain class of people do not deserve the protection of the law.

Well put, thank you.

Bunkloco

[raiha]

yes poppy seeds on your bagel will give an opiate positive reading.

[amy31416]

And this is the SECOND time they've made this mistake. They kept the baby for 2.5 months, which is such a critical time for newborns to be breast-fed and bond with his or her parents--there is no way they can make this right. None.

[Sola_Fide]

And this is the SECOND time they've made this mistake. They kept the baby for 2.5 months, which is such a critical time for newborns to be breast-fed and bond with his or her parents--there is no way they can make this right. None.

Yeah. It almost seems intentional.

[Matthew Zak]

I am inclined to believe it's government incompetence that had that baby away from it's mother for that long. Not some sinister plan. Person A thinks they're doing their job. Person B assumes responsibility, thinks they're doing their job. At that point person A has washed their hands of it and is busy doing other things for the state. After a while Person B is relieved of their duty and does the same thing as person A. Person C starts getting mad phone calls, so they ask their boss, "What is going on?" The boss says, "It would appear this baby was taken from a drug addict mother." So person C mindlessly does their job. All of these people have weird government responsibilities and none of them feel personally responsible for any wrong doing. It takes so long because none of those people are actually working for anyone but themselves, and they will never go above and beyond their job description to do the right thing or to even find out what the right thing is. After all, they didn't take the baby. And they don't get paid enough to give a shit.

[Romulus]

2.5 months?? I would be livid!

[amy31416]

I am inclined to believe it's government incompetence that had that baby away from it's mother for that long. Not some sinister plan. Person A thinks they're doing their job. Person B assumes responsibility, thinks they're doing their job. At that point person A has washed their hands of it and is busy doing other things for the state. After a while Person B is relieved of their duty and does the same thing as person A. Person C starts getting mad phone calls, so they ask their boss, "What is going on?" The boss says, "It would appear this baby was taken from a drug addict mother." So person C mindlessly does their job. All of these people have weird government responsibilities and none of them feel personally responsible for any wrong doing. It takes so long because none of those people are actually working for anyone but themselves, and they will never go above and beyond their job description to do the right thing or to even find out what the right thing is. After all, they didn't take the baby. And they don't get paid enough to give a shit.

How much does someone have to be paid to give a shit?


2.5 months?? I would be livid!

I'd be pissed over 2.5 days, much less 2.5 months. To be honest though, I'm surprised she got the baby back at all.

[123tim]

And this is the SECOND time they've made this mistake. They kept the baby for 2.5 months, which is such a critical time for newborns to be breast-fed and bond with his or her parents--there is no way they can make this right. None.

Spot on Amy.
I'd give you a rep for this if I knew how.

[fisharmor]

It happened because the child was born in a hospital.
No hospital exists in this country except at the sufferance of the state.
No medical professional works in this country except at the sufferance of the state.
If anyone here doesn't see something nefarious there, then I can't connect the dots any more clearly.

My first child was born in a hospital - after my wife and I had done our homework, that is.
It was 14 agonizing hours of being told that the sky was falling.
It is not an experience I repeated with our second child.

Our second child was born at home. I "delivered" her with the help of a friend. She came out of the womb unresponsive with the cord wrapped around her neck three times. She was, and is, perfectly fine.
It happened very quickly and the midwife wasn't able to show up until well after she was out. But it underscored for me the fact that this has been going on for tens of thousands of years at least, and it's been working out just fine.
And the total cost of the second birth was also a fraction of the first.

There are options out there, and those options are promoted and staffed by people with a healthy distrust of a system which regularly tries to shut them down.
There was no reason to go the hospital route before they started snatching babies.
If any of you are going to be new parents in the future, heed this:
Removing the hospital from the equation is much safer than you think. You will need to be a much braver person after the child is born. You may as well start before the birth.
Be brave.

[oyarde]

Why does so much weird child theft happen in PA ? They must be like that scary child catcher on Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

[Krugerrand]

Why does so much weird child theft happen in PA ? They must be like that scary child catcher on Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

That's a good show.
http://www.virginmedia.com/images/childcatcher-431x300.jpg

[oyarde]

That's a good show.
http://www.virginmedia.com/images/childcatcher-431x300.jpg

There he is , your local PA child welfare guy !!

[dannno]

Wow, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang looks a lot more disturbing than I thought..

[Krugerrand]

Wow, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang looks a lot more disturbing than I thought..

No children in Vulgaria by order of Baron Bomburst because his wife hates children.

The movie is a fair bit different than Ian Flemming's book - but I doubt Ian Flemming had a musical in mind when he wrote it.

[fisharmor]

Wow, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang looks a lot more disturbing than I thought..

My daughters get a steady diet of excrement like Dora the Explorer. Then when I show them something I grew up with, I have regular epiphanies that things have changed. "Holy shit, Gargamel's trying to eat them!" "Wait a second, a major plot point of Pete's Dragon is that Mickey Rooney was sloshed!"
If CPS found out that my 4 year old watches stuff like TOS Star Trek with me, I'm sure I'd be next.

[AGRP]

Not only encourage it through indoctrination, the State steals the money of people who oppose abortion to fund more of it.

Not only does it do this in America, but it does this around the world. The United States government is one huge killing machine. If its not bombing brown babies in the middle east, it is murdering them in the womb in Africa and black American neighborhoods.

This is why Ron Paul links abortion to statism. It is the state declaring, sometimes with other's consent, that a certain class of people do not deserve the protection of the law.

Yeah.


The state will use the "its my/your body"/"your choice" argument to murder a baby, but the same argument is outright ignored if the baby is born with drugs in it's/the mothers system. Don't tell me you have the right to murder babies on one hand and on the other tell me you have the right to steal a baby for its own good because it has drugs in its system.

[Anti Federalist]

Update:


County settles with mother who lost newborn after erroneous drug test

By Radley Balko
March 17 at 12:45 pm

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2014/03/17/county-settles-with-mother-who-lost-newborn-after-erroneous-drug-test/

An ill-timed pasta salad meal just before labor resulted in a Pennsylvania woman losing her newborn for 75 of the first 78 days of the child’s life. Eileen Ann Bower failed a routine post-delivery drug test because of the poppy seeds in her salad. Lawrence County, Pa., just settled Bower’s subsequent lawsuit for $160,000. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that this wasn’t a one-off incident:

In July, Jameson Hospital and Lawrence County Children and Youth Services agreed to pay $143,500 to settle a similar lawsuit filed by Elizabeth Mort, whose infant was taken by a false positive drug test apparently caused by consumption of a poppy seed bagel. Ms. Mort’s daughter was taken from her family for five days.

The hospital and agency indicated then that they no longer take newborns from their parents solely on the basis of maternal drug tests.

On Tuesday, Rachael Devore sued Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC, saying a false positive drug test apparently spurred by poppy seeds in farmer’s market bread resulted in an Allegheny County Children Youth and Families investigation of her family.

Drug testing for pregnant women, new mothers and newborns is a policy born of years of overblown media scare-mongering about “crack babies.” The Supreme Court struck down secret, involuntarily drug tests of pregnant women in 2001. But a hospital can still require expectant mothers to consent to drug tests after delivery as a condition for providing services.

The policy is being resurrected today after a new round of media reports about babies born addicted to meth or to prescription painkillers. These latest scares may well be legitimate public health concerns, or years from now we could learn that they were as exaggerated as the crack-baby scare. Either way, drug-testing women right after birth and then removing the babies after positive results is a pretty awful way to address the issue. These tests can and do produce false positives (as do drug tests on infants themselves.) And as with most drug war policies, minority and low-income women are far more likely be tested than white and wealthy women. A study of hospitals in Florida found that the discrepancy extends to reporting women as well — even among women who tested positive, hospital staff were 10 times more likely to report the positive tests from black women to state authorities than the positive tests from white women. And in some states, the penalties can be quite a bit worse — pregnant women and new mothers who fail drug tests can be arrested and prosecuted for child abuse.

None of this is to diminish the seriousness of babies born with addiction. Despite the history of exaggerated media reports on both the prevalence and effects of babies born with a drug addiction, they’re obviously less healthy than babies born without an addiction. They still require more treatment and care. And no one would argue that a new mother with a drug habit presents all sorts of problems for both mother and child. But even if these tests were 100 percent accurate, treating both patients for addiction seems like a far more humane policy than yanking a newborn from his mother’s arms — or sending the mother to prison.

[DamianTV]

Why are they drug testing expectant mothers who have no prior history of drug abuse?

I think Guilty until proven Innocent no longer applies. It has been replaced by "Assumed Guilty Until Proven Guilty", period.

---

Edit: Illusion of Choice


...

Drug testing for pregnant women, new mothers and newborns is a policy born of years of overblown media scare-mongering about “crack babies.” The Supreme Court struck down secret, involuntarily drug tests of pregnant women in 2001. But a hospital can still require expectant mothers to consent to drug tests after delivery as a condition for providing services.

...

Remember also that Laws were at least proposed and considered that would REQUIRE all women to birth their babies in hospitals. Now, when every single hospital has the exact same policy, demanding to drug test as a condition for providing treatment, the illusion of having a choice disappears. How would this not be any different than requiring mandatory drug testing for EVERYONE, except Senators and high ranking Bankers of course.