Hospital system accused of drug testing pregnant women without consent

A New Jersey hospital system routinely tested pregnant women for drugs without their consent, violating state law, authorities said Thursday.

The lawsuit filed by the state's attorney general's office against Virtua Health involves at least two pregnant women who were under investigation for child abuse even though their positive drug results appeared to be due to eating foods containing poppy seeds before the test.

It revives a decades-old issue concerning the rights of pregnant women and the protection of newborn children.

The complaint states that Virtua's six-year-old policy of universal drug testing of all pregnant patients who come to its hospitals for delivery or treatment is not only discriminatory, but often due to a high rate of false positive results can be a mistake.