Eating a Costco salad nearly ruined my life — I had no idea

An expectant mother grabbed a healthy lunch on the way to hospital – and her newborn baby was taken away from her as a result.

The dystopian saga unfolded when Northern California stay-at-home mom Susan Horton ate a few pieces of pre-made salad from Costco as she prepared to give birth to her fifth child in August 2022.

She then went into labor and soon welcomed her daughter, Hailey, into the world.

Horton believed everything went well. However, the next morning she received shocking news from a nurse on the maternity ward – she had tested positive for opiates.

Having avoided any narcotic pain relief during labor, the exhausted mother was completely confused. Told Mother Jones,

“You sure it was mine?” He questioned the nurse and insisted that he had never taken any illegal drugs in his life.

At first, Horton speculated that his urine sample may have been mixed with someone else’s urine sample.

Then she remembered that her last meal had contained poppy seeds – which is known to naturally contain small amounts of opiate residue even after being processed.

Positive results are quite common after consuming culinary ingredients. US Defense Department has warned soldiers Do not eat poppy seeds – keeping in mind that they may affect the test results.

Urine drug screens are also easily misinterpreted, with false positive rates as high as 50 percent, according to several studies.

But as the outlet reports, staff at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Santa Rosa, California were determined to escalate the situation.

Nurses reported the unsubstantiated finding to child welfare, and a social worker soon arrived to take the child into protective custody.

Horton lamented, “They had unique evidence that I had taken something.” “And it was wrong.”

“Mom and Dad were insistent that the Costco salad with poppy seeds dressing was responsible,” one doctor wrote in his notes. Another doctor wrote: “We are unable to verify whether this could have resulted in a positive test.”

After a second test came back positive for this opium, the situation worsened.

Unlike many other states, California law requires more than just a positive drug test to officially charge a parent with child abuse.

The distraught parents reported that unfortunately, Horton had missed several prenatal appointments — due to COVID-19 concerns as well as a medical condition with one of her other children.

Since skipped checkups are perceived by providers as a risk for drug abuse, a hospital social worker decides to pursue her case.

Horton and her husband pleaded with doctors, insisting that keeping their child in the hospital was unnecessary.

“I’m not a drug addict,” she said pleadingly. Records reviewed by Mother Jones show that her husband called the police in an effort to stop the hospital.

However, things took a turn for the worse when the angry parents refused to allow investigators to inspect their home, or interview their family and friends.

So, little Hailey’s caseworker secured a court order and turned the precious bundle over to her grandparents — apparently denying the parents any time alone with their new daughter.

Horton appeared in court several days later when the caseworker claimed that Horton’s alleged drug use endangered her child.

In an effort to regain custody, Horton agreed to another drug test, monitored by a caseworker, and eventually had her home inspected.

After about two weeks, the child welfare agency, apparently now satisfied, decided to withdraw his petition. A judge dismissed the case and the family was reunited.

The Post has contacted Kaiser Permanente, the state’s largest private employer, for comment.

“I was very confident about how I would mother and how I would parent,” Horton told Mother Jones. “Now in my mind, I’m always questioning my choices.”

“At any moment I am always aware of [Child Protective Services] Can come and take away my children.”

Oddly enough, Horton She is not the first mother whose children were taken away to the point.

Watchdogs, including the ACLU, have been investigating this problem for years, and are calling for better protections for mothers and their babies.

“People should be concerned,” leading neonatal researcher Dr. Stephen Patrick, chair of the department of health policy and management at the Rollins School of Public Health in Atlanta, told Mother Jones.

“It could happen to any of us.”