Mass. Hospital Chain to Cease Reporting of Drugs in Newborns

(Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

In an effort to reduce the stigma of addiction among Black mothers, hospitals within the Mass General Brigham system will no longer report suspected abuse or neglect to state child welfare services, solely due to the presence of drugs in a baby’s toxicology report.

The hospital group, which is Massachusetts’s largest, said rollout of the new policy will begin this week in an effort to standardize their approach to toxicology testing. The hospitals in the system include Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Newton-Wellesley Hospital, and Salem Hospital.

A catalyst for the change has been the overdose crisis where women will still have traces of buprenorphine or methadone, which are used to treat addictions, during pregnancy after they’ve stopped. Detection of those medications could lead to the patients losing custody of their children.

“The goal here is balancing the safety of infants and families,” said Dr. Sarah Wakeman, senior medical director for substance use disorder at Mass General Brigham. “A positive toxicology test does not tell you anything about someone’s ability to parent. Actually, a positive buprenorphine test tells you this person is engaged in treatment.”

Wakeman said the change in policy is “based on sound science” and claimed that studies show Black women who are pregnant are more likely to be drug tested and reported to welfare agencies than white pregnant women.

“Our new perinatal testing and reporting policy is the latest step in our efforts to address longstanding inequities in substance use disorder care and to provide compassionate, evidence-based support to families, while addressing substance use disorder as a treatable health condition,” Wakeman continued.

Hospitals will now require written consent for toxicology testing of any expectant mother or infant and plans to limit testing to only cases where the results “will change the medical management” of the pregnant mother or child.

The hospital said changing its drug testing guidelines are all part of their effort to remove racism in healthcare. “The updated policy reflects our focus on providing safe and equitable care for all patients,” said Dr. Allison Bryant, Mass General Brigham’s associate chief health equity officer, in a statement. “The process allowed us to turn our lens to understand our own contributions to stigma and inequity and strive to fix them.”