Here's how eating two bagels led an expectant mother to be threatened with child services

On Tuesday, writing for The Washington Post, emergency room physician and medical commentator Dr. Leana Wen detailed a story of how eating two bagels led Katie Keenan, an expectant mother in Maryland, to be threatened with child services just before giving birth — and the flawed state policy, common across the country, that can put women in this terrifying situation.

"At the Greater Baltimore Medical Center, right before she delivered a healthy baby girl, Makenzie, Katie took various tests. One of them was a urine test, which had a surprising finding: It was positive for opioids," wrote Len. "This result raised alarms because babies born to mothers using opioids can develop neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), where the newborn experienceswithdrawal symptoms. That includes difficulty feeding, vomiting, fevers and seizures. Untreated NAS can be deadly."

"But Katie vehemently denied using opioids. She didn’t take any pain medications or use illicit substances," wrote Len. "Upon questioning, she reported eating two 'everything' bagels that contained poppy seeds. These aren’t opioids and wouldn’t cause NAS, but they can mimic morphine and codeine to trigger positive urine tests."

Even though the bagels were the cause of the problem, the Keenans' still faced harsh scrutiny, wrote Len: "Because Maryland, like most states, requires reporting positive drug testing, a social worker started an investigation and told them child protective services could get involved. Katie felt strongly about breastfeeding Makenzie, but a lactation consultant told her she wasn’t allowed to help. Initially, Jack and Katie were told that the family could go home after two days. Then they learned that Makenzie would have to stay up to five days for observation and testing, and if the hospital became full, Katie might need to be discharged while the baby stayed."

Similar cases have happened all over the country as a result of these laws, Wen noted: "In one egregious case, a Pennsylvania woman who ate a salad containing poppy seeds had her newborn taken away to foster care for two months." It continues despite many experts believe simple toxicology screens are a poor process for identifying at-risk parents.

This also comes as some counties, most infamously Etowah County, Alabama, are summarily incarcerating pregnant women for the purpose of protecting the fetus — sometimes on the basis of drug screens that, like with the Keenans, can produce false positives. One woman in the county claims she was locked up immediately after giving birth, and separated from her infant, after testing positive for methamphetamines, which she said was in fact triggered by her sinus medication.