Is it legal for your OBGYN to acquire a drug screen without you knowledge or permission in the state of MA during pregnancy?

I personally thought that it had been deem unconstitutional, and it was in this one case:

CNN Transcript - Breaking News: Supreme Court Strikes Down Drug Testing Pregnant Women - March 21, 2001 (http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0103/21/bn.01.html)

Unsure about your specific case in that state, however, I would consult your attorney about this.

On another note, however, if you are using substances while you are pregnant, I would advise you to stop... please.

Can I ask what u were drug tested for and in most states you are supta be told u are being screened for drugs and only surtin people are issued to do drug screenings. And if you are using any drugs from the bottom of my heart I beg you from you and your child please stop using.

No test may be performed on you without what is called "informed consent" However, you may have missed it in the fine print of paperwork that you signed. I don't know about you, but I quite often just sign paperwork without thoroughly reading it. But no, you must give consent for any medical procedure or test. Don't let them tell you otherwise, either. Those are your basic rights as a patient, and important rights.

In my state it is very common for us to do tox screens with or without consent if we believe there is cause for concern. Heck, I order them all the time, and will probably be ordering a few on my shift tonight.

Why you ask? Because we need to know what we are dealing with in labor and delivery. You see, cocaine has a high occurrence of placenta abbruptio, which means possible loss of life of mother and baby if not treated emergently. Other drugs present other problems with the newborn at delivery and we must be sure to have the right equipment at the bedside and the right staff on call.

Narcotics will cause little to no respirations of the baby at delivery, so we must be sure to have narcan at the bedside and respiratory therapy on call in case intubation and ventilation are required.

So, yes, tox screens are common without consent if concerns warrant it.

Well, I am a nurse in Maine, and in Maine, you must give consent for any test. I do not only know this due to my profession, but to the fact that I had a baby 8 months ago, in a hospital that does tox screens on all babies, which I found to be odd. I guess they do it to avoid any discrimination issues, as well as to ensure safety of newborns. There is a very high opiate abuse rate in our state, and many mothers are afraid to tell the truth, I guess. I have a friend who had abruptio placentae, and had her baby at only 26 weeks! He was in the NICU for 9 months. So anyway, maybe the consent given is not called informed consent, although that is what we were taught in nursing school, but in Maine no tests are done that we are not told about. However, if a new mom refuses a tox screen or a u-bag on her newborn, DHHS is called.

Where I am consent is for any procedure, routine lab work is not considered a procedure. While you had a baby 8 months ago, and are a nurse yourself, I work in OB. I am a labor and delivery nurse and our consents are not statewide, but national consents. This means that they not only cover the consents for our state, but for the nation as well.

UDS (urine drug screen) and blood drug screens are not considered procedures. We also take meconium screens from the baby after birth, if the situation is warranted.

I have had to bag babies, life flight newborns, and ride in the ambulance when transferring infants due to mothers not being truthful, but the screens showed up positive for drugs.

The routine lab work is a hemogram, RPR (syphillis), chickenpox, rubella titer, HIV/AIDS, and type and cross-match. Other screens, such as drugs, are considered routine if there is cause for concern. These do not need a consent. And yes, DHS is contacted if there are drugs in the system.

I am sure that it is very hard to see the effects of a mother being untruthful. I hope that when DHS is contacted that these mothers are helped. The fact that DHS is called is probably the reason they are dishonest. They are scared. Not that this is an excuse by any means, I just think that there should be more programs to help with drug addiction, including education. But all of these things take money, I know, and not all addicts will ever be rehabilitated. Isn't that sad? Sometimes I wish I didn't have to know about these sorts of situations. Sometimes I just want to put on my rose-colored glasses.

I agree Melissa, but if I put on my rose colored glasses I couldn't save the babies who are born to meth addicted 14 year olds, you know.

I don't work in an innercity hospital, but rather in a very rural hospital, in one of the highest meth trafficking states of the US. We see drug babies at least every other day.

Again, these tests do not need consents. If they did, and the mother did not consent, we would not know how to treat the baby at delivery and could lose more lives of newborns to drugs than we already do.

Are the effects of meth worse than other drugs? I thankfully have never seen a baby with meth withdrawals. I assume you mean methanphetamine, and not methadone, although I know methadone withdrawals are awful too. But at least the phenobarbital helps a little. (I am sure it is still horrible for the baby) Also, is the Finnegan scoring system used for meth, or is it a different testing method? Keep doing what you do, it sounds like you are good at it.

Yes, I mean methamphetamines. My county is one of the meth highways of the country. Methadone is terrible too. The withdrawals are different in every baby, depending on the amount taken and the last dose, but they can take up to 6 months for the baby to be considered stable for release from the NICU.

I don't work in a NICU, our babies are shipped out to trauma centers, so I am unsure of what scoring system they use. There are several, so I am sure each hospital uses their scoring system of choice.

Six months? That's very sad, but to look on the bright side if there is one, maybe legislation could be started to require drug addicted mothers during that time to receive mandatory treatment. A period of sobriety could be a requirement of the mother getting custody of the baby when it is time to leave the NICU.

You are right Melissa.

Now back to the Op's question. It is common for a doctor or hospital to take a tox screen without your permission if they feel that the health and wellbeing of your fetus is at stake.