BABIES AND DRUGS

Pregnant Addicts Pose Serious Risks

Before wading into the privacy-rights thicket that is before the Supreme
Court over the constitutionality of a South Carolina hospital's policy of
calling the cops on pregnant drug abusers, let's stipulate a few things:

Substance abuse is our nation's No. 1 health problem, consuming one of
every five dollars spent on Medicaid hospital care.

Substance abuse costs society close to half a trillion dollars each year,
and causes untold human suffering through increased violent crime; by
destroying families; by leading to child abuse, teen pregnancy, traffic
accidents and injuries; and by contributing to or directly causing a host
of illnesses, from AIDS to cancer.

Children whose parents abuse drugs and alcohol are three times more likely
to be physically and sexually abused and four times more likely to be
neglected.

Children of drug-and alcohol-addicted parents are more likely to become
criminals, more likely to become addicts themselves, more likely to have
psychological problems and less likely to finish school.

Considering these facts, it would seem incumbent on a hospital -- a
community's primary health center -- to do all it can to fight the nation's
No. 1 health problem.

The argument before the Supreme Court is whether drug testing pregnant
women and turning the information over to police violates privacy rights
and harms the doctor-patient relationship. As for the issue of
constitutional rights, we'll wait for the court's decision. But doctors and
other hospital personnel already are required to report any evidence of
child abuse to the police. Whether drug testing a patient amounts to
illegally gathering evidence is the issue at hand. We hope it's found to be
constitutional.

As for the argument that it harms the doctor-patient relationship, consider
the greater harm when a doctor does nothing about his pregnant patient's
drug abuse. First of all, drug abuse can cause damage to a fetus. But even
worse is the threat posed to a newborn child by a drug-addicted mother. An
overwhelming majority of professionals at child welfare agencies say
substance abuse is behind most cases of child abuse and neglect. And a
child abused by addicted parents is more likely to grow up to be a
trou-bled adult -- a drug abuser, an abusive parent, even a criminal.

So by alerting police to a pregnant patient's drug abuse, a doctor is
actually committing a very therapeutic act, considering the risks an
addicted mother poses to her children and to society.

Of course, it all depends on what police do with that information. If it's
used to leverage an addicted, pregnant mother into treatment, with the
promise of remaining with her child and getting full custody once she
completes an effective recovery program, everybody wins.

In South Carolina, pregnant drug addicts were turned over to police only if
they refused treatment or failed drug tests twice while in treatment. That
seems reasonable.

Many people believe drug abuse is benign, equating it with drug dabbling by
middle-class college kids, or they think drug addicts don't hurt anybody
but themselves. But addiction to cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, alcohol
and other drugs is usually more damaging to the people around the addict.

It creates risks to the lives of children, family members and even perfect
strangers who fall victim to the hazardous behavior of the addict. And all
of society pays the costs.

If the Supreme Court finds the South Carolina hospital did not violate
pregnant women's constitutional rights, then other hospitals should follow
suit by drug testing pregnant women and, if necessary, using the
information to leverage them into treatment. Combatting our nation's No. 1
health problem requires nothing less.