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Pregnant Wisconsin woman arrested & forced into rehab after refusing to take Suboxone

23536

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Pregnant Wisconsin woman arrested & forced into rehab after refusing to take Suboxone

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/201...wis-case-challenges-fetal-protection-law?lite

When Alicia Beltran was 12 weeks pregnant, she took herself to a health clinic about a mile from her home in Jackson, Wis., for a prenatal checkup. But what started as a routine visit ended with Beltran eventually handcuffed and shackled in government custody – and at the center of a first-of-its-kind federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a state’s fetal protection law.

On July 2, Beltran, 28, met with a physician’s assistant at West Bend Clinic at Saint Joseph’s Hospital in West Bend, Wis., for her prenatal visit. When asked to detail her medical history, Beltran admitted a past struggle with the painkiller Percocet. But that was all behind her, Beltran said: She had been taking Suboxone, a drug used to treat Percocet dependency. Lacking health insurance and unable to afford the medication, Beltran had used an acquaintance’s prescription and self-administered the drug in decreasing doses. She had taken her last dose a few days before her prenatal visit.

According to Beltran, the physician’s assistant recommended she renew her use of Suboxone under a doctor’s supervision. After Beltran declined, she said she was asked to take a drug test, which was negative for all substances except Suboxone.

Two weeks later, a social worker visited Beltran at home and told her that she needed to continue Suboxone treatment under the care of a physician, said Beltran, who again declined. Two days later, Beltran found police officers at her home, who arrested and handcuffed her.

According to the police report, the officers took Beltran to a hospital, where she underwent a doctor’s exam. Her pregnancy was found to be healthy and normal, her lawyers say. Police then took her to Washington County Jail to await a hearing – hours later, she was led into a courtroom, handcuffed and shackled at the ankles, where a county judge ordered her to spend 90 days in a drug treatment center.

“Alicia had no idea she was giving information to the physician’s assistant that would ultimately be used against her in a court of law,” said Linda Vanden Heuvel of Germantown, Wis., one of Beltran’s attorneys. “She should not have to fear losing her liberty because she was pregnant and she was honest with her doctor.”

At the hearing, her lawyers say, the judge told Beltran that an attorney would not be provided for her at that time but that she could seek counsel for her next hearing in the case. And yet, a lawyer had been appointed to represent her fetus. “It’s wrong that an unborn child gets an attorney but Alicia Beltran, the mother of that unborn child did not,” said Vanden Heuvel.

Emails and phone calls to Family Court Commissioner Dolores Bomrad and her office were not returned. Assistant District Attorney of Washington County Mandy Schepper declined to comment on the case.

At the center of Beltran’s case is a 1997 Wisconsin law that grants courts authority over the fetus of any pregnant woman who “habitually lacks self-control” with drugs and alcohol “to a severe degree” such that there is “substantial risk” to the unborn child. Beltran’s lawyers argue that she was not using any controlled substances at the time of her arrest.

The story continues: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/201...wis-case-challenges-fetal-protection-law?lite
 
This is one of the strangest articles I've read here.
 
Shackled and pregnant: Wis. fetal protection law

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/201...wis-case-challenges-fetal-protection-law?lite

When Alicia Beltran was 12 weeks pregnant, she took herself to a health clinic about a mile from her home in Jackson, Wis., for a prenatal checkup. But what started as a routine visit ended with Beltran eventually handcuffed and shackled in government custody – and at the center of a first-of-its-kind federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a state’s fetal protection law.

On July 2, Beltran, 28, met with a physician’s assistant at West Bend Clinic at Saint Joseph’s Hospital in West Bend, Wis., for her prenatal visit. When asked to detail her medical history, Beltran admitted a past struggle with the painkiller Percocet. But that was all behind her, Beltran said: She had been taking Suboxone, a drug used to treat Percocet dependency. Lacking health insurance and unable to afford the medication, Beltran had used an acquaintance’s prescription and self-administered the drug in decreasing doses. She had taken her last dose a few days before her prenatal visit.

According to Beltran, the physician’s assistant recommended she renew her use of Suboxone under a doctor’s supervision. After Beltran declined, she said she was asked to take a drug test, which was negative for all substances except Suboxone.

Two weeks later, a social worker visited Beltran at home and told her that she needed to continue Suboxone treatment under the care of a physician, said Beltran, who again declined. Two days later, Beltran found police officers at her home, who arrested and handcuffed her.


According to the police report, the officers took Beltran to a hospital, where she underwent a doctor’s exam. Her pregnancy was found to be healthy and normal, her lawyers say. Police then took her to Washington County Jail to await a hearing – hours later, she was led into a courtroom, handcuffed and shackled at the ankles, where a county judge ordered her to spend 90 days in a drug treatment center.

“Alicia had no idea she was giving information to the physician’s assistant that would ultimately be used against her in a court of law,” said Linda Vanden Heuvel of Germantown, Wis., one of Beltran’s attorneys. “She should not have to fear losing her liberty because she was pregnant and she was honest with her doctor.”

Only in the United States of Arrogance.
 
on what pretence was she arrested?

denial of medical treatment?

...kytnism...:|
 
Ehh stopping maintenance during pregnancy is dangerous. The law is kinda messed up but i see there point.
 
I'm sure if she wasn't pregnant she would have been allowed to denie treatment. As crimsonjunk stated stopping maintanance can be high risk to the baby. Why put an unborn baby in uneeded risk of death. That is a understandable reason to be punished. If no one helped protect unborn babys who would. Not to mention she only got sent to drug treatment which will most likely improve the lives of the mother as well as when the baby is born.
 
I'm sure if she wasn't pregnant she would have been allowed to denie treatment. As crimsonjunk stated stopping maintanance can be high risk to the baby. Why put an unborn baby in uneeded risk of death. That is a understandable reason to be punished.

But she's legally allowed to abort the baby!
 
I totally get the high risk factor, but forcing her to a 90 day rehab where she will prob have a rock hard bed, nasty food with no value (cheap and salty) crushing boredom, being woken up at 6am to go to meetings all day and then also have to walk around (poss) i think all that stress is going to be really bad for that girl in the long run. They could have just made her take a ua once or twice a week to check for opiate use.
 
Yes 23536 you'r right to a small extent. We must ask ourselves how far along she was though. As well as how humane it is to abort anything in the manor that this mother could have.
 
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Is humane-ness even relevant for a 12 week old fetus? Can someone be inhumane towards an organism that isn't self aware?
 
Why I see why they wanted to have her on Suboxone. Someone cares about the unborn potential future person.

If it was me I would take the Suboxone.
 
She should have been given the opportunity to give clean ua's on a daily basis before being forced into taking a drug or go to rehab.
 
disgusting. she was trying to be honest about her situation so the doctor could be informed and make the best decisions, but just because her story involves the bedeviled opiate oxycodone, she suddenly finds herself shackled and treated like a common criminal, just for having admitted to a past drug problem.

way to go war on drugs, youre making the world a better place
 
When the social worker showed up she should have just took the suboxone then flushed it or not taken it if thats what she wanted to do, beats going to court and rehab.
I've also heard stress is unhealthy for un-born babies and people in general, I don't see why she had to be arrested, the last thing you need when quitting drugs and pregnant is to be arrested and put on trial, nice use of taxes America.
 
It says that she wasn't on any controlled substances. That's interesting because two lines before that it reads that she was positive for suboxone...

I had a friend lose her baby because her doctor refused to continue prescribing subs for her because she went in on a Tuesday when her appt was really on Monday. That was it, could turkey, nothing. Guess what? Right after the miscarriage she got super depressed and started shooting up again.

I assume that if she was once in suboxone this lady quit using it because she couldn't afford it anymore.
 
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Crazy. I had my daughter while on methadone and I had to jump through a million hoops to keep acs off my ass. I really feel for this girl, although stopping ORT is dangerous when pregnant didnt it say she had tapered? Is she still dependent now? if not then why put her back on suboxone? I hate how much power the system has.
 
It says that she wasn't on any controlled substances. That's interesting because two lines before that it reads that she was positive for suboxone...

I had a friend lose her baby because her doctor refused to continue prescribing subs for her because she went in on a Tuesday when her appt was really on Monday. That was it, could turkey, nothing. Guess what? Right after the miscarriage she got super depressed and started shooting up again.

I assume that if she was once in suboxone this lady quit using it because she couldn't afford it anymore.

Your friend should get a lawyer.
 
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