Kia P. v. McIntyre
| Decision Date | 01 August 1999 |
| Docket Number | Docket No. 98-9595 |
| Citation | 235 F.3d 749 |
| Parties | (2nd Cir. 2000) KIA P., individually and on behalf of Mora P., an infant, and MORA P., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. ROSEMARY MCINTYRE, individually and as caseworker, Child Welfare Administration, DORAN DELAMOTHE, individually and as supervisor, Child Welfare Administration, BARBARA SABOL, individually and as Commissioner of Social Services of the City of New York, ROBERT LITTLE, individually and as Deputy Commissioner of Social Services of the City of New York, NEW YORK CITY, Defendants-Cross-Defendants-Appellees, LONG ISLAND COLLEGE HOSPITAL and SUSAN MORANCE, Defendants-Cross-Claimants-Appellees |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
Parent brought suit individually and on behalf of her child alleging that city, city officials, private hospital and hospital employee violated plaintiffs' rights under the United States Constitution and New York state law when they held the child at the hospital for ten days shortly after the child's birth without a hearing pending confirmation of a hospital screening test that detected methadone in the child's urine. The United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Frederic Block, Judge) granted defendants' motions for summary judgment and dismissed the complaint in its entirety. Plaintiffs appealed the district court's judgment insofar as it held that: (1) defendants did not violate plaintiffs' substantive or procedural due process rights; (2) defendants did not infringe the child's Fourth Amendment rights; (3) defendants did not deny plaintiffs equal protection of the laws by discriminating against them because of the parent's HIV-positive status; and (4) certain individual defendants are protected by qualified immunity.
Affirmed.
[Copyrighted Material Omitted] CAROLYN A. KUBITSCHEK, Lansner & Kubitschek, New York, NY (David J. Lansner, Lisa Napoli and Christopher S. Weddle, of counsel), for Plaintiffs-Appellants.
SUSAN CHOI-HAUSMAN, New York City Law Department, New York, NY (Michael D. Hess, Corporation Counsel of the City of New York, Steven Friedman and Barry P. Schwartz, of counsel), for Defendants-Cross-Defendants-Appellees.
JENNIFER BIENSTOCK, Aaronson Rappaport Feinstein & Deutsch, New York, NY, for Defendants-Cross-Claimants-Appellees.
Bruce A. Young, New York, NY, filed a brief for Amicus Curiae the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform.
Nanette H. Schorr, Bronx Legal Services, Bronx, NY, filed a brief for Amicus Curiae Bronx Legal Services.
Before: FEINBERG, VAN GRAAFEILAND and SACK, Circuit Judges.
This appeal arises from the withholding of a newborn infant from the custody of her parents on the basis of a toxicology test administered shortly after her birth that indicated the presence of methadone in her urine. The infant, plaintiff Mora P., was held by defendant Long Island College Hospital against the stated wishes of her mother for a total of ten days, during the first eight or nine of which the hospital was awaiting the results of a confirmatory urine test. As soon as results of a test showing that there was in fact no methadone in the infant's urine were received, the hospital medical staff gave her medical clearance to be discharged. She remained in the hospital for a day or two more, nonetheless, while a hospital social worker contacted the New York City Child Welfare Administration and received word from the agency that in its judgment the child should be discharged. She was thereupon released to her parents.
The child's mother, plaintiff Kia P., brought suit individually and on behalf of her infant daughter Mora alleging, inter alia, that the defendants infringed their constitutional rights in violation of 42 U.S.C. §1983. The district court (Frederic Block, Judge) granted the defendants' motions for summary judgment and dismissed the plaintiffs' complaint in its entirety. See Kia P. v. McIntyre, 2 F. Supp. 2d 281, 295-96 (E.D.N.Y. 1998). The plaintiffs appealed the portions of the district court's judgment holding that: (1) the defendants did not violate the plaintiffs' substantive due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment by unjustifiably infringing the plaintiffs' interests in family integrity; (2) the defendants did not violate the plaintiffs' procedural due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment by removing Mora from the custody of her parents without a pre- or post-deprivation hearing; (3) the defendants did not violate Mora's rights under the Fourth Amendment by conducting an unreasonable seizure; (4) the defendants did not violate the plaintiffs' equal protection rights under the Fourteenth Amendment by discriminating against the plaintiffs on the basis of Kia's HIV-positive status; and (5) certain of the individual defendants are protected by the doctrine of qualified immunity.
We affirm the judgment of the district court without reaching the issue of qualified immunity.
On March 27, 1993, Kia P. went into labor. Believing it would be impossible to reach the North Central Bronx Hospital, where she had received prenatal care, in time, she went to Long Island College Hospital (the "Hospital") to give birth. The Hospital is privately owned and operated. When she was admitted, Kia disclosed that she had abused crack cocaine in the past, that she was HIV-positive, and that she had a history of tuberculosis and syphilis.
Later that day, Kia's daughter, Mora, was born. Kia's husband, Edwin P., accompanied Kia to the Hospital and was present for Mora's birth.
Because of Kia P.'s HIV-positive status and history of tuberculosis and the Hospital's belief that Kia had not received adequate prenatal care, in accordance with Hospital policy, the Hospital tested a sample of Mora P.'s urine for drugs shortly after her birth. On March 29, 1993, the Hospital's test indicated the presence of methadone in Mora's urine. That day, a Hospital social worker, defendant Susan Morance, who is a "mandated reporter," i.e., a person who, by the nature of her professional position, is required by New York state statute to make reports to the State of suspected abuse or maltreatment of children,1 notified the New York State Central Registry for Child Abuse of the positive drug test. The Registry in turn notified the New York City Child Welfare Administration ("CWA").
Also on March 29, 1993, Kia P. was discharged from the Hospital. When she asked to take Mora home with her, Morance denied her request because, Morance told Kia, methadone had been detected in the baby's urine. According to Kia, Morance explained: "I have to talk to . . . CWA," and, Morance also allegedly stated that Kia could not stay in the Hospital with Mora, and that Kia would be forcibly ejected by Hospital security if she tried to stay. Kia was told, by her account, that she could "come in and see [her] daughter and feed her," but could not take her home.
There is no dispute that the Hospital had two reasons for retaining Mora. First, the Hospital's medical staff believed Mora had methadone in her bloodstream and was in danger of suffering from methadone withdrawal, a potentially fatal condition. As the district court noted, Kia P., 2 F. Supp. 2d at 285. The second reason for holding Mora was the Hospital's compliance with Hospital and CWA policies requiring that any child under investigation by CWA not be released from the Hospital without CWA permission.
Either of these considerations could have resulted in the Hospital's retention of Mora. But from our review of the record on appeal we conclude as a matter of law that between the receipt of the results of the first test and Mora's ultimate medical clearance eight or nine days later, Mora was held by the Hospital for medical reasons, not concerns about possible parental mistreatment and CWA policies. It was the medical staff that made the initial decision to withhold Mora's release because of the danger of methadone withdrawal. And from Mora's birth to her medical release, the infant was under medical observation and care by the Hospital's medical staff.
Kia P. denied ever having used methadone, and she and her husband voluntarily submitted to drug tests, each of which yielded a negative result. Mora's urine sample, meanwhile, was sent by the Hospital to an outside laboratory, SmithKline Beecham, for confirmatory testing. Because of the small quantity of urine submitted to it, the laboratory was unable to perform the requested tests. The sample was therefore sent to a second outside laboratory, National Medical Services, for analysis by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, a more sophisticated testing method. During this period, Hospital medical personnel monitored Mora for further symptoms of methadone withdrawal. Then, on April 6 or 7, 1993, the Hospital was informed by National Medical Services that its test indicated that there was no methadone in Mora's urine.
The same day, shortly after receipt of the gas chromatography/mass spectrometry test results, the Hospital's staff medically cleared Mora for discharge. Morance, made aware of this decision, then called defendant Rosemary McIntyre, the CWA caseworker assigned to the matter, and informed her of the medical clearance. After McIntyre discussed the case with her supervisor, CWA decided that it would not seek custody of Mora. McIntyre then returned Morance's call, but was unable to reach her because she had left for the day. McIntyre successfully made contact...
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