Imagine having just given birth to a healthy baby only to have her taken away from you because you tested positive for drugs. The catch is you don't even do drugs! This is what happened to Pittsburgh mom Elizabeth Mort who had her newborn daughter taken away from her after failing a hospital drug test, all thanks to a poppy seed bagel.
Mort sued Jameson hospital in 2010 for $143,500 and just won the case against the medical facility which is said to have a low cusp when it comes to drug testing. But __why did a poppy seed bagel cause Mort to test positive for drugs i__n the first place?
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Apparently poppy seeds contain opiates which the hospital's faulty drug testing misread and determined the results as positive. The problem is Mort claims that doctors didn't ask her if she'd eaten food that may have manipulated the results of the drug test–and get this, they DIDN'T even tell her she had failed it in the first place!
The Huffington Post reports that Jameson hospital admits they have an inaccurate drug screening which has resulted in many false positives all because of certain foods and drinks people consume. The federal standard is 2,000 nanograms per milliliter, but Jameson's was only 300 nanograms which could easily be misperceived.
Ironically, it was a poppy seed bagel that Mort ate prior to giving birth to her daughter Isabella which brought on the labor. She received every new mother's nightmare a few days after the baby was born when a child welfare caseworker came to her home and had the infant removed. Luckily for Mort, Isabella was returned days later after it was determined that she really wasn't on drugs after all. Like any normal mother, Mort was outraged and sued the hospital for their careless error.
This sounds like a nightmare come true! I can't blame Mort for suing this irresponsible hospital who should have upgraded their drug testing standards many years ago! Who knows how many other cases there are like this one out there. Hopefully this encourages Jameson hospital and other medical facilities to make sure their drug assessment exams are up to date. All I can say is I'm never having poppy seed bagels again!
Image via Thinkstock
