In 2024, Marshall Project Staff Writer Shoshana Walter found that hospitals use drug tests that return false positives from poppy seed bagels, decongestants and Zantac. Yet newborns are being taken from parents based on the results. In her investigative series’ second story, Walter revealed hospitals gave birthing patients medications used routinely for pain or in epidurals — to reduce anxiety or to manage blood pressure during cesarean sections — then reported them for positive drug tests. These stories were published in partnership with Mother Jones, Reveal and USA Today.
Walter found many women who say hospitals didn’t explicitly inform them that they would be drug tested, nor that a positive result could be reported to authorities. Parents described how this hindered bonding with their newborns and their confidence in parenting. False positives can easily occur inside labor and delivery units, and families can quickly get trapped inside a system of surveillance and punishment. Walter’s investigation is the first nationwide examination of this issue and why it is happening.
To spread awareness on this urgent reporting, The Marshall Project’s Audience team crafted carousels on Instagram, short-form videos on TikTok and YouTube Shorts, and posts on Reddit.
Audience Engagement Producer Kristin Bausch designed in-depth explainer carousels to break down both stories through text, audio and visuals, weaving Walter’s big-picture takeaways with her narrative storytelling. Walter also experimented with video storytelling under the direction of Audience Engagement Producer Chris Vazquez, who used visual props to accompany Walter’s scripted lines. In a second social video, Vazquez took another approach in scripting, starring and producing a sketch-based video to share Walter’s reporting takeaways. And on Reddit, Audience Director Ashley Dye posted the stories in subreddits while noticing Redditors’ organic shares and conversations — vast platform interest that spurred Dye to produce an AMA with Walter.
