A New Castle woman said her child was taken away from her after the results of a drug test came back wrong.
The woman said she tested positive for drugs after delivering her child because she ate a poppy seed bagel before giving birth.
Elizabeth Mort said Children and Youth Services came to her home three days after the child was born at Jameson Hospital to remove the baby from her home. CYS officials said her hospital bloodwork showed that she was using opiates.
According to the Pittsburgh American Civil Liberties Union, the bagel's poppy seeds provided the false positive.
Sara Rose of the ACLU said CYS may have violated the law.
"One thing I think is a violation is the fact that Lawrence County CYS immediately got a court order without the parents present to remove a newborn baby based solely on the hospital's report of a positive drug test," said Rose.
Jameson Hospital released a statement to Channel 11 News saying that they were only following the law.
A Pennsylvania House Bill 2760 that passed three years ago allows hospitals to test a mother's blood to protect newborns. But the ACLU said Jameson hospital went too far and failed to consider what Mort might have eaten.
The ACLU is representing Mort. Rose said they are working toward filing a civil rights lawsuit on her behalf. The child has been returned to Mort.
Jameson Hospital released a statement saying, "We have initiated an investigation to compare our standards to other community and regional hospitals. And if necessary, we will advise our reference lab to critique their standards for consistency."
