TOWN OF TONAWANDA, N.Y. (WKBW) — Less than a week after baby Carter Dominguez was brought into the world, baby and mom are enjoying time at their home in the Town of Tonawanda.
But this arrival wasn't easy.
“I just want everyone to know that this can happen,” she said. “I don’t want it to happen to anyone else.”
When Elizabeth went into labor, she was asked for a urine sample.
“I did a urine test and it came back that I tested positive for opiates,” she said. “I called my husband freaking out saying ‘how is this possible?’ I don’t do drugs,” she said.
Her husband Mark asked what she had to eat that day.
“And I told him a bagel and a sub. That’s all I had. He told me it must be from the bagel.”
Elizabeth had eaten a bagel, covered in poppyseeds. Poppyseeds are derived from the opium plant.
“In some cases eating a large amount of poppyseed such as the kind found in a bagel has been shown to produce low levels of morphine and codeine in the urine,” said Dr. Michelle Rainka, a Clinical Pharmacist at DENT. “Potentially those seeds have not been washed and can contain that.”
Dr. Rainka says anyone about to take a drug test should know this.
“Anywhere from one to three bagels with poppyseeds can produce positive tests on a urine toxicology.”
Dominguez gave birth later that day, and her baby’s tests for opiates came back negative. Still, the hospital monitored Carter for withdrawal, and because of Elizabeth’s failed drug test, hospital staff followed protocol and called Child Protective Services.
Elizabeth was discharged but Carter had to stay, separating mom and baby less than 24 hours after birth.
“I felt absolutely horrible,” she said. “I felt like a terrible mother leaving him. I just want everyone to know that this could happen. It’s such a terrible thing and I don’t want it to happen to anyone.”
Reports show Elizabeth did have a false positive because of the poppyseed bagel.
