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Elizabeth Mort was pregnant and just wanted a bagel.
So she had one but it was covered with poppy seeds and that’s where the trouble began.
The day after Elizabeth gave birth, police and social workers came to her Pennsylvania home and took her newborn away from her for a positive drug test.
The poppy seeds on the bagel made Mort test positive for opiates in a pre-delivery blood test, triggering the action.
The hospital didn’t tell Elizabeth or her husband about the test and both were more shocked when officials showed up at their door.
Mort and her husband have been awarded a $143,500 payout for the wrongful action and she told the Pittsburgh Tribune Review “I am happy that the changes made by the agency and the hospital will prevent similar situations to others in the future.”
Health workers say from now on they will report positive drug tests from the infant's first bowel movement, not from the mother's urine.
This isn’t the first time a case like this has happened in the area. Another family had their baby placed in foster care for 75 days after a positive opiate test caused by a poppy-seed salad.
That family has also filed a lawsuit.
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