Can My Obgyn Drug Test Me Without Consent
In 2018, Shakira Kennedy, a 28-yr-old Black woman, disclosed to her doctor that she had been using marijuana to assist with her extreme forenoon sickness. She had lost over 50 pounds during her pregnancy, and none of the anti-nausea medications prescribed past her doctor helped.
After giving birth at a public hospital in New York City, Kennedy and her newborn twins were drug tested without her consent. Despite the newborns' negative event, the hospital staff reported Kennedy to the Administration for Children's Services, leading to a lx-day investigation of kid neglect. Kennedy was forced to attend a drug rehabilitation program for an habit she did not have, in guild to foreclose her family from beingness torn apart.
The nightmare that Kennedy endured is non unique. In fact, the practise of drug testing Black mothers without their consent dates to the 1980s, when a simulated epidemic of "crevice babies" led to a flurry of punitive policies designed to closely police the behavior of pregnant women. The risks of prenatal crack cocaine exposure were sensationalized by national media, while exposure to other substances like alcohol were largely ignored.
The focus on crack cocaine inevitably led to racial disparities in testing and reporting that persist today. According to a 2010 University of Rochester Medical Center study, Blackness newborns admitted to the NICU are more probable to be screened for illicit drug utilise than their white counterparts, despite being less probable to exam positive. Furthermore, a California studyfound that Black women are 5 times more than likely than white women to exist reported to Kid Protective Services for prenatal drug use, even if the infirmary has standardized reporting protocols.
In the U.S., 25 states crave health professionals to report cases of prenatal drug utilise to CPS. Substance apply during pregnancy is considered child abuse in 23 states and the Commune of Columbia, with three considering information technology grounds for civil commitment. CPS interest in these cases tin lead to arrest, imprisonment, loss of custody, and compulsory enrollment in rehabilitation programs.
In addition to severe legal consequences that disproportionately target low-income Black families, castigating drug enforcement policies discourage meaning patients from seeking prenatal intendance, increasing the gamble of neonatal forbearance syndrome. Patients with an untreated substance apply disorder may die from a drug overdose, which has become a leading cause of maternal mortality. For mothers like Shakira Kennedy who practise non accept a drug habit, a CPS referral may pb to an unnecessary removal that traumatizes the family unit.
Drug testing mothers and newborns without their consent is a destructive practice that must finish. Currently, a state Senate bill that aims to accost these concerns sits in commission. Bill S7955 not only requires written consent from the patient earlier a drug examination is performed, but likewise prohibits medical professionals from using test results for purposes not related to handling or diagnosis.
Support for this pecker is support for better health outcomes for mothers and newborns. Instead of punishing families for prenatal drug use, health care providers should focus on making sure patients receive the care that they need.
Yubin Oh is a junior studying political science and health policy at the University of Rochester.
Source: https://rochesterbeacon.com/2021/05/10/stop-drug-testing-mothers-and-babies-without-consent/
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