Susan Horton had been a stay-at-home mom for almost 20 years, and now—pregnant with her fifth child—she felt a hard-won confidence in herself as a mother.
Then she ate a salad from Costco.
Horton didn’t realize that she would be drug-tested before her child’s birth. Or that the poppy seeds in her salad could trigger a positive result on a urine drug screen, the quick test that hospitals often use to check pregnant patients for illicit drugs. Many common foods and medications—from antacids to blood pressure and cold medicines—can prompt erroneous results.
If Horton had been tested under different circumstances—for example, if she was a government employee and required to be tested as part of her job—she would have been entitled to a more advanced test and to a review from a specially trained doctor to confirm the initial result.
And let me guess, she paid for the privilege of being forced to stay 5 days and having her baby taken away from her? Unless she’s got amazing insurance?
Honestly, I’m so glad to live somewhere with public health care.
Yes. However, she will get a payout in the end
She will, but many MANY more won’t be so privileged.
Tbf I don’t think she wants a payout … she just wants her kid back (and maybe have the testing protocols updated to follow the science instead of the stupidity).
She did get her kid back. It’s in the article.
For all those here saying that it can’t happen, here’s some info that says it can.
Poppy Seed Consumption May Be Associated with Codeine-Only Urine Drug Test Results
US Dept of Defense: Service Members Should Avoid Foods With Poppy Seeds
Urinary concentrations of morphine and codeine after consumption of poppy seeds
Poppy Seeds Signal Limitations of Urine Drug Testing Protocols
There was even a Mythbuster episode where they confirmed it. IIRC, their test popped reliably after two bagels.
Yeah it was a good episode. They were blown away.
The last thing I saw about this very topic had mentioned that most newer tests did not have this false positive issue, but many older tests did.
More reliable tests cost more money and the hospitals won’t pay for it (often, anyway).
You’d think they’d opt for it after the cheaper test popped positive before people lost their jobs or children.
You’d think they’d just pass the cost of the better test on at an 8000% markup like they do with everything else.
They can just do a definitive test before reporting, that would solve all of this.
Isn’t that what I said?
Sorry we took your new born away, but ya know, we just can’t afford a better test.
I remember myth busters testing this
Also that Seinfeld episode.
A lot of this article is about drug testing, but this also should remind people how much chaos one shitty, or overworked, nurse can cause.
Omg yes! I perform drug testing and I’ve had instances where nurses called CPS before we could give them a confirmation result causing mayhem for all involved. It makes me want to scream whenever I see screening tests used as evidence against people. Any hospital or government agency making those kinds of decisions based on a screen should be sued to high hell. Also fun fact really high levels of Benadryl will cause you to pop positive for PCP on most drug screens. I’ve had to talk a handful of pediatricians down about that over the years too.
I had a fun event a year ago where I woke up in a Covid ward after surgery because a nurse saw antibodies on a pre-surgery Covid test.
I had covid about a month before, that’s why I still had detectable antibodies. The doctors all knew that. That’s why they admitted me and performed the procedure.
You should have to clear something past an actual doctor if some things are going to get escalated.
I honestly thought that was the case this entire time
I’m sorry but anyone who thinks people with thc in their urine are less valuable than people that don’t, is a worthless piece of human trash themselves. It’s appalling that this is even a thing but more so how many people actually support it staying the way it is.
I was listening to a podcast today or yesterday talking about huge recruiting shortfalls in 3 of 4 military branches in the US. The biggest factor was that the available pool of recruits are 75% ineligible for a variety of reasons, but the biggest factor is past/current drug use. The most common drug: cannabis. Even if someone has used it only once, even if they just tried it, they are ineligible for military service.
It seems pretty foolish, in the biggest recruitment shortfall in American history, to discount your largest possible pool of recruits just because they might’ve smoked a doobie once.
Even if someone has used it only once, even if they just tried it, they are ineligible for military service.
Well that’s just false. You’ll get denied if you pop hot on a drug test at MEPS, but they don’t tend to care if you’ve smoked in the past, except as a barometer for if you’ll smoke in the future. And, like almost everything else in the DoD, there’s a waiver form you can fill out for it too
Can confirm. I signed said waiver. I told them that yeah, I smoke weed, but if my job requires me to be clean, I’m clean. Except Adderall. They gave me 30 days to get clean, sent me to MEPS and made me a Nuke. Then nuke school wouldn’t let me leave and they made me an officer and an instructor.
I joined the Navy to see the world, ffs. I’d already seen South Carolina :/
Lmao I’m picturing a series of comedic events like guy enlists to quietly do his service and sail the world, but keeps getting promoted and sent to the most boring places.
“Congrats Chief, were sending you to West Virginia”
“Congrats LT, we’re sending you to South Carolina”
“Congrats Commander, we’re transferring you to… Montana”
Nevermind Montana admiral we need you in DC.
I left as ET2 and 90% of my time was at prototype in Ballston Spa as an instructor. I went on one short tour and we saw the Persian Gulf.
Y’all still got a gator that hangs out down there? Are the students still headed to that shitty dive bar that didn’t used to check IDs? I’m genuinely curious because I haven’t been there in over 20 years, but I heard the shitty dive actually checks IDs now.
No clue, I was there from '02-'05, sounds like I may have been there while you were there.
We may have been friends. I was that guy that did that thing that one time.
Also confirmed, signed a waiver and still went to a top secret A-school.
deleted by creator
So as someone who’s in his mid 20s and chops more grass than a lawnmower, what kind of experience would I have trying to enlist?
I hope every employer that continues enforcing thc testing in the workplace collaspes. Many of them are already on the brink. I just want to have a normal life and still get to smoke weed sometimes. All I know is that I will continue working towards that goal until I succeed, deal with it.
How would they know though? I know it stays in your system for a couple of weeks but not for months or years so you could just lie on the application form.
She tested positive for heroin, not THC. If she was actually actually heroin, child protective services involvement would absolutely be warranted.
The issue here is the erroneous test and complete failure on the part of the hospital to confirm its results
She tested positive for opiates, not heroin.
Yes, heroin is an opiate.
She tested positive for codeine, the weakest opiate you can possibly get because to trigger any bigger result you’d need a thousand poppy seeds or more.
The hospital is 1000000000² % at fault here. Any competent medical staff doesn’t let this happen.
Heroin is derived from morphine, not directly from poppy seeds.
I don’t think poppy seeds make you test positive for THC.
Not that it really matters but it’s a bit of a stronger drug that it emulates
Counterpoint: Walked my dogs past a Gradeschool (5-13yo) during the hustle and bustle of the first morning of class. Smacked in the face at 8:30am with the stench of weed.
Pillars of the community. No doubt.
I don’t understand how 13-year olds smoking weed is a counterpoint to the other comment…
Looking that his response can be boiled down, “I don’t need to explain myself” I think they can be safely ignored
I wouldn’t expect you to.
Do you usually write comments with the expectation that they aren’t to be understood? Lol
not by you
Then why bother?
Because there are non-degenerates out there that the anecdote will land with.
Hmm…well, it’s clearly not just me. Seems like nobody has any idea what you were going on about, lol
lol lol so sad
Hack writing but yeah, this is possible and I’m surprised there isn’t a better test.
I think there is a better test. The cheap and fast one is tricked though. The fact they didn’t do a more advanced test before taking her child is pretty fucked.
This is a long, long article, but it’s 100% worth it. The entire thing is infuriating.
Agreed.
It sucks for everyone involved too. The mothers, the doctors, the hospital, the caseworkers, all seem to be locked into a ridiculous position because of poor testing equipment, and overly protective laws.
You can always just lie.
Who is “you” in this situation?
Anyone at every step of the way.
“Whoops we didn’t collect enough urine to perform the test.”
“Whoops I spilled it and she’s already in labor”
“Test came back as positive? No that was a false alert”
“Whoops I filled the wrong information in the report and sent the authorities to the wrong place”
“I came to check on her and she clearly wasn’t on drugs so I left”
Etc. These are moral failings of everyone along the way.
That could land them in prison, or at the least they would lose their license in addition to fines.
You’re asking medical personnel to bypass requirements, and in this situation I totally understand how that seems like a win-win, but that’s not a practice we should be encouraging people to do. That’s how people die.
“I was just following the rules”?
On the one hand, you’re correct.
On the other, you need to think and be brave and be willing to take a little risk sometimes to protect others. Otherwise we end up with something like the quote above and…
Mmmm I think it’s important to test. However, the problem is those tests are crappy, and shouldn’t be used as evidence. The solution is to require better tests, and not skip around laws and regulations designed to save lives or protect people. That’s not bravery, because bravery is relative. IMO.
I think that the hospital should be required to perform better tests if the initial test comes back positive or questionable. They can call child services, but child services should not be able to Take action until a more thorough investigation happens.
The choice is between separating a mother from a new born child and not separating her. The mother is now childless, and the child will probably end up in our horrific adoption system. Maybe they will find a loving parent, or maybe they’ll end up loveless. The choice should be easy to make.
I’m not saying lie on all tests. Just on ones where the moral boundaries are incredibly clear.
Ok, would you be willing to gamble your career and freedom on her word that she tested dirty because of eating a salad?
Because your name would be on the paperwork and one of the first individuals pulled in if something questionable happens a year from now and they start auditing. That’s what you’re suggesting other people do with their lives.
Morals are relative. And losing or manipulating tests is against the Hippocratic oath, the very foundation of medicinal treatment.
Thorough investigation should always be done before accusing someone, and all of those drug tests should be considered a false positive until they rule everything out.
100% worth it.
The entire thing is infuriating.
I love to be infuriated!
I’m getting worn out from all the crap to be infuriated about these days. It’s fucking overwhelming the amount of dumb-as-fuck shit capitalists, right-wingnuts and generally lazy people do to others, just for funsies it seems.
The internet has become a fury delivery system. The stories that infuriate us, they are designed for exactly that. Reality is something utterly apart from the stories.
Reality is something utterly apart from the stories.
Aren’t these stories about reality? They’re not made up are they, they actually happened.
There are a thousand ways to spin. So yes and no. Is a half-truth a truth?
I read this as “furry delivery system”, and it still made sense.
So what happened?? There’s no conclusion after her kid was taken
I heard her talking about it on NPR earlier today. She did get her kid back, but it was a whole fucking ordeal she and her family should have never had to go through in the first place (and thank god she had the resources to fight it)
Also lovely way to start a childs life. Instead of being at the chest of its mother, it gets to be with some overworked strangers, not getting breat fed and not feeling the physical closeness necessary to build a healthy sense of security.
For decades, state and federal laws have required hospitals across the country to identify newborns affected by drugs in the womb and to refer such cases to child protective services for possible investigation. To comply, hospitals often use urine drug screens that are inexpensive (as little as $10 per test), simple to administer (the patient pees in a cup), and provide results within minutes.
