this post was submitted on 09 Sep 2024
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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.

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[–] fartsparkles 158 points 3 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 37 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Yes. However, she will get a payout in the end

[–] [email protected] 62 points 3 months ago (1 children)

She will, but many MANY more won't be so privileged.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 3 months ago (1 children)

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).

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[–] [email protected] 135 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 90 points 3 months ago (1 children)

There was even a Mythbuster episode where they confirmed it. IIRC, their test popped reliably after two bagels.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 3 months ago (7 children)

Yeah it was a good episode. They were blown away.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 3 months ago

I remember myth busters testing this

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 months ago

Also that Seinfeld episode.

[–] [email protected] 130 points 3 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 69 points 3 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 3 months ago (1 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 60 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (22 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (3 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 3 months ago (4 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 20 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (4 children)

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 :/

[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 months ago (1 children)

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"

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 55 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Hack writing but yeah, this is possible and I'm surprised there isn't a better test.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 months ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 3 months ago (1 children)

So what happened?? There's no conclusion after her kid was taken

[–] [email protected] 60 points 3 months ago (1 children)

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)

[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 months ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 3 months ago (8 children)

This is a long, long article, but it's 100% worth it. The entire thing is infuriating.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 3 months ago (11 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 months ago (2 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 3 months ago

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.

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