Pubdate: Fri, 18 Oct 2002
Source: Daily Press (VA)
Copyright: 2002 The Daily Press
Contact:  http://www.dailypress.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/585
Author: Adrienne Schwisow

APPEALS COURT: PREGNANT S.C. WOMEN DID NOT AGREE TO DRUG TESTS

RICHMOND, Va. -- Most of the pregnant women who sued a South Carolina 
hospital for giving them drug tests and handing the results over to police 
had not agreed to be tested, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.

The Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston adopted the 
drug-testing policy in 1989 to stop the crack baby epidemic.

After complaints that some women were arrested from their beds shortly 
after giving birth, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the tests violated 
constitutional protections against unreasonable searches.

The Supreme Court sent back to the appeals court the question of whether 
the women actually consented to the tests.

The three-judge panel on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 
that eight of the 10 women who sued did not know they were being tested for 
cocaine and did not consent to the testing.

"It is certainly disheartening that, as a result of our holding today, 
damages may be imposed on those who acted with the best interests of the 
Appellants and their children at heart," wrote Judge William W. Wilkins Jr.

The lawsuit now will return to a lower court for a jury to determine what 
damages the women should receive, their lawyer said.

"These women had no idea their doctors were acting as agents for the 
police. They said, 'We're here to help you.' Some of the women actually 
were there to get help and then they were turned in," said Priscilla Smith, 
an attorney with the New York-based Center for Reproductive Law and Policy.

Robert Holmes Hood, who represents the defendants, including the city of 
Charleston and the university, could not immediately be reached for comment.

The 10 women sued the hospital in 1993, saying the policy was 
unconstitutional. One woman had spent three weeks in jail, and Smith said 
another was taken to jail soon after giving birth.

A federal jury in South Carolina found in favor of the hospital and, in 
1999, the 4th Circuit upheld the verdict, saying the drug testing fell 
under a special category of law that allows warrantless searches when the 
government can demonstrate a "special need."

The court said the hospital's drug-testing policy was a valid effort to 
reduce crack-cocaine use by pregnant women.

The hospital dropped the policy after the lawsuit was filed. In all, police 
arrested about 30 maternity patients and charged them under the state's 
child endangerment law.

Thursday's ruling does not apply to two of the plaintiffs, who the judges 
said either suffered no constitutional violation or were not searched.
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