Mother Sues Hospital For Drug Testing Her While She Was In Labor

A Pennsylvania woman is suing a Pittsburgh hospital after they collected and drug tested her urine while she was in labor. Cherell Harrington claims that medical staff at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) violated her constitutional rights and her medical privacy by conducting the test without her consent.

The drug test resulted in an unconfirmed positive for marijuana. After receiving the results, the hospital tested her newborn son, but there were no traces of illegal drugs in his system. Despite the negative test result, the hospital notified about the Pennsylvania Office of Children, Youth, and Family Services.

That sparked a child abuse investigation, which uprooted her life. Caseworkers went to her home and photographed and interviewed her children. During one interview, they asked her daughter about her mother's "use of addictive substances," even though there was no evidence that Harrington was addicted to drugs.

UPMC issued a statement defending their decision to drug test Harrington and then send the results to the Pennsylvania Office of Children, Youth, and Family Services.

"UPMC clinicians make informed decisions regarding screening and drug testing for new mothers and newborns," UPMC spokeswoman Amy Charley said. "UPMC follows Pennsylvania's Child Protective Services Law, which mandates health care professionals to report these findings to the Pennsylvania Office of Children, Youth, and Family Services."

Harrington's lawsuit also names another mother who had a similar issue with the hospital, and their lawyers are trying to get it certified as a class-action suit.

"I would like for them to acknowledge that they have hurt many women and children and ruined experiences when they shouldn't have the power to do that. We were there to deliver our children," Harrington said. "And what they did was so traumatizing and so hurtful. I can't get that birth, I can't get those days back. I can't. I want them to change what they are doing and just stop it."

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