this post was submitted on 11 Dec 2024
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Amairani Salinas was 32 weeks pregnant with her fourth child in 2023 when doctors at a Texas hospital discovered that her baby no longer had a heartbeat. As they prepped her for an emergency cesarean section, they gave her midazolam, a benzodiazepine commonly prescribed to keep patients calm. A day later, the grieving mother was cradling her stillborn daughter when a social worker stopped by her room to deliver another devastating blow: Salinas was being reported to child welfare authorities

What happened to Salinas and Villanueva are far from isolated incidents. Across the country, hospitals are dispensing medications to patients in labor, only to report them to child welfare authorities when they or their newborns test positive for those very same substances on subsequent drug tests, an investigation by The Marshall Project and Reveal has found.

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[–] Limonene@lemmy.world 159 points 6 days ago (4 children)

Why are hospitals drug-testing pregnant women without their consent?

[–] cdf12345@lemm.ee 154 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Because in red states, cruelty is the point.

[–] NatakuNox@lemmy.world 22 points 6 days ago

Yup. Can't let beds in the for profit prisons go cold. Other wise the prisons CEO might have to spend only 199 days on vacation instead of the customary 200.

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 98 points 6 days ago (1 children)

The article mentions it... TL;DR: War on Drugs

Hospital drug testing of pregnant women, which began in the 1980s and spread rapidly during the opioid epidemic, was intended in part to help identify babies who might experience withdrawal symptoms and need extra medical care. Federal law requires hospitals to alert child welfare agencies anytime such babies are born. But a previous investigation by The Marshall Project and Reveal found that the relatively inexpensive, pee-in-a-cup tests favored by many hospitals are highly susceptible to false positives, errors and misinterpretation — and many hospitals have failed to put in place safeguards that would protect patients from being reported over faulty test results.

[–] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 73 points 6 days ago (11 children)

was intended in part to help identify babies who might experience withdrawal symptoms

That was the stated reason to get public buy in. The real reason was the same as the rest of the war on drugs, to keep black people incarcerated so slavery can continue per the 14th amendment.

[–] Darrell_Winfield@lemmy.world 23 points 6 days ago

Lol, yeah, that started reason doesn't hold up well. Your basic urine drug screen (UDS) will flag benzos (midazolam in this article), natural opiates (not fentanyl and those derivatives), cocaine, barbiturates, marijuana, amphetamines, and I think that's it. The only ones likely to cause fetal withdrawal are benzos and opiates. Works well enough for benzos, but withdrawals are pretty rare. The most common are opiates, but the most common opiates won't show up on the UDS. So why use it?

[–] driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br 12 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

Citations Needed did an episode on the crack baby moral panic, but couldn't find it now.

Edit: I think it was this one but I'm not entirely sure:
Citations Needed: Episode 39: From Cradle to Courtroom: How The Media Stacks the Deck Against “Defendants”

Episode webpage: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/citationsneeded/CN39_20180606_live_court_watch_nyc.mp3

[–] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 6 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

Yeah, there was no crack baby epidiemic for starters...

[–] Chip_Rat@lemmy.world 10 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Citations needed uses heavy sarcasm. Though I don't recall the episode, I'm 100% they are highlighting the fact that there was not.

[–] driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br 7 points 6 days ago (1 children)

They talked about that, how the article that started the panic had to be retracted, but it didn't mattered at that point

[–] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 7 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

As tends to be the case with racist fearmongering.

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[–] nucleative@lemmy.world 13 points 6 days ago (1 children)

What in the HIPPA violation

[–] StaticFalconar@lemmy.world 8 points 6 days ago

Its not a catch all thing to hide behind.

[–] Kraiden@kbin.earth 11 points 6 days ago

Honestly, it's much of a muchness, but for the sake of accuracy: It was the fetus that was tested, not the mother

[–] sexy_peach@feddit.org 85 points 6 days ago (4 children)

Wait what? What's going on in the US

[–] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 54 points 6 days ago (1 children)

As a nation we are still mad at those uppity women for voting and wearing pants.

[–] LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 6 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Let's be fair, some are also mad if they don't wear pants.

And then theirs me, who wants to wear my pants and they don't fit.

[–] thefartographer@lemm.ee 34 points 6 days ago

Too much. And most of it is bad...

[–] Jesusaurus@lemmy.world 19 points 6 days ago

Pls send help

[–] ramenshaman@lemmy.world 16 points 6 days ago (1 children)

It's a shitshow and I'm afraid it's about to get a lot worse.

[–] pyre@lemmy.world 5 points 5 days ago (1 children)

what's the worst a guy with a partially eaten brain can do?

[–] Deckname@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I actually dont want to find out.

[–] pyre@lemmy.world 4 points 5 days ago

in that case, I have bad news

[–] obinice@lemmy.world 62 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Ah, the USA. I wish that didn't make sense :-(

[–] XTL@sopuli.xyz 14 points 5 days ago

And Texas in particular

[–] pyre@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago

well it doesn't

[–] SpiceDealer@lemmy.world 33 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I really fear for the future of my female loved ones and women in this country in general. Will my older sister who is currently pregnant be subject to this violation of human rights? Will it also happen to my wife when we get around to having kids? Will my younger sister who is only in high school be forced to abandon her educational aspirations because of "societal pressure"? A revolution is in order.

[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works -1 points 5 days ago

Nearly half of them asked for this. It makes no sense.

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 36 points 6 days ago (2 children)

A 2022 study by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital found that 91% of women given fentanyl in their epidurals tested positive for it afterward.

wait but what about the 9%?

[–] adarza@lemmy.ca 29 points 6 days ago (2 children)

tests aren't 100% accurate.

[–] Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 15 points 6 days ago

It’s probably a split between that and people who naturally metabolize opiates faster due to a genetic variation.

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 2 points 6 days ago

it's a conspiracy!

[–] Artyom@lemm.ee 13 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Maybe they bought fake pee on the black market to ensure they'd receive the medical care they're already paying for.

[–] NatakuNox@lemmy.world 8 points 6 days ago
[–] Dasus@lemmy.world 7 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Farming kids and the moms for the system

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