NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- The New York City Commission on Human Rights has launched an investigation to determine whether three private hospital systems' drug testing policies target Black and Latinx families, the agency said Tuesday.
The investigation will focus on how Montefiore, Mount Sinai and NewYork-Presbyterian hospitals in the Bronx, Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens test pregnant patients and newborns for drug use, the commission said in a release.
Advocacy groups have raised concerns that those hospitals' drug testing policies "may disproportionately target Black and Latinx parents and infants," the release said.
They have also "consistently reported" that hospitals "continue to use a single unconfirmed positive screen as a reason to report parents to the [State Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment]," the release added.
An SCR report can trigger a child protection investigation, the release noted.
"Achieving racial justice requires systemic change across all aspects of daily life, not least of all in the medical system," Sapna Raj, the deputy commissioner of the commission's Law Enforcement Bureau, said in a statement.
"The commission is seeking to root out any discriminatory policies or practices and prevent further harm to these communities," Raj added, noting that the "manifestation of anti-Black racism in medical settings is a well-known and entrenched problem."
The three hospital systems didn't immediately respond to requests for comment on the investigation.
