Couple Sues After Baby Taken Following Poppy Seed Positive Drug Test

PITTSBURGH — The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the parents whose newborn daughter was taken away after the mother failed a hospital drug test because she had eaten a bagel.Elizabeth Mort gave birth to her daughter, Isabella, at Jameson Hospital in Lawrence County in April.Three days after the birth, caseworkers with the county’s Children and Youth Services department took the infant.

Mort said it wasn’t until the police arrived that she learned she had tested positive for drugs while in the hospital.”I was devastated. I just cried, and cried, and cried. I didn’t want to let her go. I didn’t. I was heartbroken. I watched them leave the driveway. I ran upstairs,” Mort said at a news conference Thursday.According to the ACLU, Isabella was returned after it was determined the bagel Mort had eaten prior to admission to the hospital contained poppy seeds, which resulted in the false positive.

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