Newborn baby is taken from mum in hospital after she test positive to drugs - after eating a BAGEL.
Tests proved the bagel was the culprit
By Frances Sheen
May 15 2019
A terrified mum had her newborn baby taken from her by authorities after a bagel she ate caused a routine urine test to show the presence of opiates in her blood.
Elizabeth Dominguez, who lives in Tonawanda, New York, went into labour and was asked to provide a urine sample as part of the hospital’s procedure.
However, the results were far from what Elizabeth and her family were expecting. They showed she had traces of opiates in her blood, indicating she had taken drugs.
“I called my husband freaking out saying ‘how is this possible?’ I don’t do drugs,” she said.
'I told the lab, I told the hospital, I told everybody - re-test me, do what you have to do,' Elizabeth, 29, explained to WKBW.
After giving birth to little Carter, Elizabeth was horrified when Child Protection Services (CPS) arrived at the hospital, demanding to speak to her.
'The CPS shows up in my room, questioning me, someone asked, "If we are to take your baby and kids away from you, where would you like them to go?'" says Elizabeth.
While Carter's tests showed no evidence of opiates, he was kept in for medical observation while Elizabeth was discharged and separated from her newborn boy.
Her husband Mark asked what she had to eat that day.
“And I told him a bagel and a sub. That’s all I had. He told me it must be from the bagel.”
Elizabeth had eaten a bagel, covered in poppyseeds which are derived from the opium plant.
Further lab tests showed that Elizabeth's pre-birth snack was directly responsible for her positive opiate reading.
Doctors confirmed that eating poppy seeds that haven't been fully washed can skew an initial drug screening test and give a positive result.
After being reunited with her baby boy, Elizabeth couldn't believe a bagel had caused so much distress and anguish to the family.
'I just want everyone to know that this could happen and it's such a terrible thing,' she said.