Screened for drugs without permission

[Anonymous]

I have Kaiser and live in Maryland. Just got back blood work from my 12 weeks appointment and saw that in addition to many normal blood tests, my doctor had ordered a panel screening for 12 different drugs. No one had mentioned this would be included and no one asked my consent. On the other hand, I did not ask what "routine blood work" entailed, so that's on me but it still feels like a categorically different type of test than, say, platelets or syphilis in that it is treating me like a suspect of a crime rather than a patient.

I've never used illegal or recreational drugs of any kind before or during pregnancy, so they all came back negative but I'm really offended that they tested me without asking. Has this happened to you? Is this standard Kaiser policy? Is there any recourse here? This is my first Kaiser pregnancy so I don't know if switching doctors will make a difference.

[Anonymous]

This is a routine part of pregnancy testing. They do not treat women who come back positive as criminals.

[Anonymous]

Are you black? I know a lot of PoC get screened for drugs at a higher rate than white people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a routine part of pregnancy testing. They do not treat women who come back positive as criminals.

I had two babies recently and don't remember this. Not kaiser though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a routine part of pregnancy testing. They do not treat women who come back positive as criminals.

This is absolutely false. They will call CPS

[Anonymous]

Normal. Drugs can harm the fetus, so they screen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a routine part of pregnancy testing. They do not treat women who come back positive as criminals.

This is absolutely false. They will call CPS

At birth

[Anonymous]

OP this is normal. Many practices do this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a routine part of pregnancy testing. They do not treat women who come back positive as criminals.

This is absolutely false. They will call CPS

This is the correct answer. They involve CPS if they come back positive.

[Anonymous]

100% normal.

[Anonymous]

Might be "normal" but it doesn't make it ethical or even legal. There was a supreme court decision saying that it was not allowed in many circumstances, which this probably falls under.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1119949/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Might be "normal" but it doesn't make it ethical or even legal. There was a supreme court decision saying that it was not allowed in many circumstances, which this probably falls under.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1119949/

You should not be trying to play lawyer. The decision is very narrow.

[Anonymous]

I guess the lesson here is that people who use drugs of any sort should diligently avoid prenatal care if they don't want their baby taken away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a routine part of pregnancy testing. They do not treat women who come back positive as criminals.

This. Worked at Sibley. You'd be amazed at how many of the rich white women had cocaine in their systems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I guess the lesson here is that people who use drugs of any sort should diligently avoid prenatal care if they don't want their baby taken away.

Women are treated like absolute crap during pregnancy, birth and postpartum. Q

If you have an addiction problem, please try to get sober for yourself and your baby.