Two New Jersey moms sue hospitals over failed drug tests they say were caused by poppy seed bagels

Two New Jersey moms are suing the hospitals where they gave birth for being drug tested without their consent ahead of their deliveries. They each say they ate a poppy seed bagel, causing a false positive result and the hospitals to report the women for possible neglect or abuse.

Through the American Civil Liberties Union, the mothers — referred to in their complaints as Kate L. and Kaitlin K. — say both hospitals violated New Jersey’s antidiscrimination laws. They are asking the state Division on Civil Rights to order the hospitals to stop drug testing expectant mothers without their permission and to create policies and staff training related to drug testing.

“No one should be subjected to unnecessary and nonconsensual drug tests. Our clients are sending a clear message to hospitals that these testing and reporting policies are unacceptable,” ACLU-NJ staff attorney Molly Linhorst said. “Discriminatory testing policies like these upend what should be a time of joy for families, and so often subject them to further trauma and unwarranted investigation by the state.”

In their complaints, Kate and Kaitlin describe “emotional trauma” superseding what was supposed to be a happy occasion.

For Kate, who craved everything bagels — which are rolled in sesame seeds, garlic, salt, poppy seeds, and other ingredients — throughout her pregnancy, picking up a bagel was routine, including on Sept. 20, 2022, when she was admitted to Hackensack University Medical Center.

Kate ended up having an emergency C-section, and her baby was placed in the NICU, according to the complaint. The mother says hospital staff kept her and her husband in the dark about her urine sample being tested for drugs and showing up positive for opiates. They didn’t know they were being investigated or why their newborn was still being monitored.

Citing internal policy, the attending doctor told Kate and her husband that the hospital was conducting an investigation and contacted the New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency to report the mother for “possible child abuse and neglect,” the lawsuit said. She says it has shattered her trust in medical professionals.

“I felt like the doctors were questioning my character and parenting skills,” Kate said in a statement published by the ACLU. “I’m terrified of ever going to a hospital again; I’m always going to worry that our family could be torn apart. That’s why we are doing all we can to stop this from happening to anyone else.”

Kaitlin also ate a poppy seed bagel on Oct. 20, 2022, before being admitted to Virtua Voorhees Hospital to give birth to her second child. Like Kate, she said she did not know her urine sample was being tested for drugs and returned positive opiate results. Despite her newborn testing negative for opiates, the hospital followed its internal protocol, contacting the New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency.

Before being allowed to come home, agents interviewed Kaitlin’s 7-year-old son, who was with a family friend while she was in the hospital. Two months later, Kaitlin said the agency conducted another home visit and she was subjected to follow-up drug tests. The agency visited a third time in December before concluding the allegations of abuse were “unfounded.”

“I feel violated. This whole ordeal has been extremely stressful and has turned our lives upside down,” she said. “Now, because of what happened, I live in fear of medical tests and how they might be used against me as a mother.”

The ACLU says drug testing pregnant patients without their knowledge or consent is discriminatory and discouraged by health-care providers because it can deter people from seeking care throughout and after their pregnancy. The group says hospital drug tests’ thresholds often have lower thresholds for substance detection than federal guidelines.

In Kaitlin’s case, her drug test had a threshold for opiate levels 200 times lower than federal regulations. Lawsuits have been filed across the country for similar hospital practices. In Pennsylvania, a class-action lawsuit was filed in 2020 against the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Allegheny County regarding pregnant women being drug tested without their consent.

The ACLU also says that the hospitals’ drug tests are racially biased. Reports show that health-care professionals are more likely to drug test pregnant Black women and their babies than white women. While Kate’s and Kaitlin’s races weren’t disclosed, Kate’s complaint says her doctor told her that “this sometimes happens to women of color.”

Both hospitals have declined to comment on the lawsuits specifically. A spokesperson for Virtua told the Washington Post that it is “dedicated to providing safe, comprehensive, and equitable care to the community” and “fully committed to reviewing this matter.”

Eating poppy seeds and failing a drug test is a popular trope in pop culture. It’s even the premise of a Seinfeld episode, where Elaine eats a poppy seed muffin and fails a urine test.

While poppy seeds don’t directly contain opium, they can become contaminated with opiates from the milky material the seed pod covers them with when harvested, the University of Florida Health says.

The United States Anti-Doping Agency says the phenomenon is possible and that it’s hard to say how long the results will show in your system. As noted by the Guardian, the U.S. Department of Defense warned service members not to consume foods with poppy seeds before drug tests.