Imagine feeling excited to meet your new bundle of joy, going into labor, and then being told that you can’t take your baby home because a test shows you’ve taken opiates. Unfortunately, this nightmare was Elizabeth Eden’s reality when she gave birth in a Maryland hospital. Soon after giving birth to her baby girl, Beatrice, Eden was told that she tested positive for opiates during a drug test that was taken during labor. Eden responded by claiming that she has not taken opiates or drugs of any kind. She claims that the only reason her drug test could be positive is from the poppy seed bagel she ate for breakfast that day.
Eden told WBAL TV 11, “I was in labor. I was sitting in the bed. I was having contractions. I was on a Pitocin drip, and the doctor came in and said, ‘You’ve tested positive for opiates.'” Eden continues to explain that she remembered being told that poppy seeds could lead to a positive drug test in a high school health class. “I said, ‘Well, can you test me again? And I ate a poppy seed bagel this morning for breakfast,’ and she said, ‘No, you’ve been reported to the state.'”
As a consequence of this failed drug test, Eden and her family were forced to wait five days to take newborn baby Beatrice home.
"I said, 'Well, can you test me again?' And 'I ate a poppy seed bagel this morning for breakfast,' and she said, 'No, you've been reported to the state.'"
— WAVE (@wave3news) August 8, 2018
Woman in labor tests positive for opiates because she ate a poppy seed bagel >> https://t.co/tVLdW7H8IJ pic.twitter.com/e3MBLaemME
Eden was also assigned a caseworker to do home visits. One could imagine that any mother in this situation would be devastated, and Eden admitted to WBAL TV 11 that she was traumatized.
Is Eden telling the truth — can consuming poppy seeds really make you fail a drug test?
Brittanica defines a poppy seed as the edible, nutritious seeds of the opium poppy, and states that the seeds themselves do not contain opiates. However, Britannica also states that harvested poppy seeds are often contaminated with morphine residue, which is an opiate. Therefore, it is true that the consumption of poppy seeds before a drug test could interfere with the results, causing the results to read positive. “It’s not very common, but it can happen,” Dr. Lewis Nelson, who was not involved with this particular case, told Live Science.
Elizabeth Eden did her research on poppy seeds as well and is not letting this hospital get away with accusing her of drug usage. She’s taking a stand to educate all expecting mothers and has written a letter to the hospital detailing her research on poppy seeds. The new mom is demanding that the hospital adjusts their drug tests with the consideration of food items like poppy seeds, or that they at least warn all expecting mothers in their care about consuming poppy seeds prior to labor.
