AUDIO – MALPRACTICE TODAY –
Sept. 7, 2024 – Hospitals across the country routinely drug test people coming in to give birth, using pee-in-a-cup tests that are notoriously imprecise. People who have eaten poppy seed bagels or taken over-the-counter heartburn or cold medications can test positive for meth or opiates. The Marshall Project’s reporter Shoshana Walter, in collaboration with Reveal, investigated how hospitals nationwide are reporting parents to child welfare services over inaccurate drug test results. She digs into the cases of women who were separated from their babies after a false positive result triggered a cascade of events they could not control.
