positive urine tox!?

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lynda19

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Hi all,

I am set to start my residency BUT my urine tox came back positive for amphetamines. First off, I swear I dont do any drug. I am a clean cut pathetically conservative new mom 🙂. I take claritin D, centrum & a birth control pill & a cup of coffee everyday. I am assuming its the claritin (or combination of meds??) that caused the positive result, however the doc from HR who had to review my file bc of the + test said that couldnt be it. Anyway, he is checking with the lab & i ssupposed to call me back. Any suggestions if they come back saying the same-that my OTC's couldnt be the cause? I googled claritin D & a few sites said that could be the cause of + amphetamine ( I even assumed that was the + when I was told "something came back +"). Is it just me or is this a no-brainer?

Any advice would help me tremendously. I just dont know what the next steps are or what to do if they dont clear me for work.

& I welcome the jokes (& even the doubters), my family & husband are having a field day at my expense already 🙄 but please add some advice to it lol

thanks
 
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I vote for the Claritin D also.
It's the decongestant in the Claritin D.
I sure hope the lab can clear this up for you.
For any other 4th year med students on here, I would avoid all decongestants and stimulant diet supplements, herbs, etc. for several weeks before any drug test they give you as a condition of residency.
 
lynda19 said:
Hi all,

I am set to start my residency BUT my urine tox came back positive for amphetamines. First off, I swear I dont do any drug. I am a clean cut pathetically conservative new mom 🙂. I take claritin D, centrum & a birth control pill & a cup of coffee everyday. I am assuming its the claritin (or combination of meds??) that caused the positive result, however the doc from HR who had to review my file bc of the + test said that couldnt be it. Anyway, he is checking with the lab & i ssupposed to call me back. Any suggestions if they come back saying the same-that my OTC's couldnt be the cause? I googled claritin D & a few sites said that could be the cause of + amphetamine ( I even assumed that was the + when I was told "something came back +"). Is it just me or is this a no-brainer?

Any advice would help me tremendously. I just dont know what the next steps are or what to do if they dont clear me for work.

& I welcome the jokes (& even the doubters), my family & husband are having a field day at my expense already 🙄 but please add some advice to it lol

thanks
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Insist that they run a GC-MS on the sample you gave them. It should be a routine process for any positive result where employment is at stake, but some places may not do that.

GC-MS will resolve whether it's actually amphetamine or an illicit derivative, rather than pseudoephedrine or a metabolite. (Unless you have some crazy metabolic alteration that turns pseudoephedrine into say, methampetamine, in which case, who needs a job when you're a human meth lab? :laugh:).
 
It's definitely the Claritin D. I take it for my allergies, it has pseudoepherine in it which is why you need an ID to buy it. Pseudoephrine is an amphetamine, people use it to make meth, but it definitely clears your head during an allergy attack.
 
yeah I've been convinced its the claritin. problem is I tend to get hives without it. Plain old claritin just doesnt do it for me. I'm just going to have to be persistent I guess.
Samoa, thanks for the info. I will ask them about that test. & if I am indeed capable of making meth in my urine, guess who's hittin the rehab clinics with a gallon of water! momma needs some money! lol
thanks again all.
 
hmm i can't lie, before this happened I might not have believed him. nice link, thanks. pretty interesting...
 
First, it shows what can cost you a job (career!). Second, don't poo-poo this. With all the ritalin/concerta/etc. abuse in students, you may be watched a little closer than you think. DON'T assume that because "you KNOW" you are clean doesn't mean "they BELIEVE" you are. As a doctor, if a patient presented to you this positive test, what would you say? (junkie? druggie? allergy sufferer?) Their HR dept is looking at a paper (legal document!) with your name on it that says POSITIVE. Hopefully they asked you what meds you are on before the test to document it, and you told them about the claritin-d. They don't dismiss hot urines lightly. Third, insist, as was stated by Samoa, to a gc-ms run, or atleast serial repeat tests (if they allow it). Fourth, keep an attorney in the back of your mind!!! So many people are wronged by these tests, it isn't a laughing matter, no matter your position. Keep us appraised and GOOD LUCK!!!
 
This is why utox's are bull**** and I will raise a fuss if ever asked to do one. Thank god my residency doesn't ask for this. Way too many ways to get a false positive on the majority of the screens.
 
I'm just trying to let her know the gravity of HER situation. We've all seen a false positive (maybe a false negative too😕?). It DID happen, so let's offer support!!!
 
the problem is everytime I say claritin d, they say claritin. I hope they realize the difference. I havent pulled all my guns out yet but I dont intend to let them prevent me from starting. what I just dont get is how this physician can say it cant be the claritin??

I am planning to ask about the additional test & willing to go as far as an attorney if necessary. I agree with your point Mebob. I can say with certainty though, that if I am able to start if they want to scrutinize my behavior, I have never been less than professional & appropriate and I think my actions & behavior can only benefit my case if they choose to analyze them. (I may joke here where its anonymous & at home but never on the job.)

The whole point of a drug test is that you cant take a person's word for it. However, i think a person's overall character & especially level of occupational functioning are a couple of indicators of whether or not they are dealing with an addiction (or even a bad habit)

BUT it looks like the major hurdle will be whether or not HR will give me clearance to start. Doesnt matter what the PD might think if HR doesnt clear me...

I will update the outcome of all this. Thanks for your input. Hoping all goes smoothly from this point onward 🙂
 
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I would also immediately get your hands on their written policy just so you know what you can force them to do per their own policy and what you may have to finagle, e.g. sometimes additional tests(that is after the "confirmatory" test that they should automatically do after the initial (+) result) have to be done at your expense etc... each place is slightly different and life is generally easier if you know what their policy actually is.
 
A similar situation actually happened with one of my patients last year. She was taking Zyrtec-D. The urine tox came back + for amphetamines. GC-MS proved the patient correct.

Once upon a time, I do remember coming across a list of drugs that cause false urine positive in Mosby's Nursing Drug Reference (I was bored in a nurses station way back in med school), and pseudoephedrine was listed in it as a false + amphetamine.
 
more good advice guys, thanks a bunch! & I will def stop saying claritin & specify that its pseudoephedrine...
 
APD's advice to tell them you are on pseudoephedrine is great. I would do that.

I also suggest you be ready to deal with this aggressively if need be, if this isn't cleared up by the time intern orientation rolls around. You don't want to unnecessarily antagonize people, but at the same time don't assume that HR and these types of bureaucrats are your friends. Unfortunately some of them are not very bright, and also they get paid to process paperwork, etc. not to help you. Remember the advice in House of God - I think it was, "They can always hurt you more". You definitely don't want this to end up screwing up your intern year, or getting reported to your state medical board. This is your career and YOU are the one most invested in it. I would be ready to go as high as you need to go - program director, dean of the medical school, hospital chief of staff, whomever. I doubt that will be necessary but you need to mentally prepare yourself anyway.
 
So the update so far is: I asked the health director who is in contact with the lab if the lab did or could run the GC-MS test which is supposed to differentiate btwn pseudoephedrine & amphetamine. He said "well the lab doesnt seem to feel that the pseudoephedrine according to their assay could have caused the positive result." No word on whether they did the GC-MS. He wants to meet me this week.
I then asked, "Well can someone tell me what my options are from this point or what the possible outcomes of this are?" ans: "the options are for us to meet." No word on what this meeting is about. I called my program director's office. They said, yes they know pseudoephedrine can have a + cross reactivity & to just go to the meeting, that the health director is very reasonable & nice & to see what he says. If there are any problems after that to contact them & they will see what the options are at that point.
Im just a little annoyed to not get any answers when I ask a question. I have no idea what this meeting is about. I guess I'm just being impatient not knowing what they might say to me.
well, I havent taken my claritin d since yesterday & dont plan to till after wed in case they do a retest...
 
Lynda, I gotta say - kudos to you, because you really seem so calm about this. I think they would have to peel me off the ceiling, probably because I find the whole concept of employee drug testing ludicrous and insulting in the first place.

Pseudoephedrine is well known and broadly accepted as a cross-reacting substance in those standard urine immunoassays. Your employer (as with all of them who find tox screening to be a "good" idea) should - for many ethical and legal reasons - routinely send all positives for GCMS confirmation, as others have said. Instead, you have to go for a special "meeting". That's crap, and they're being cheap if they don't reflex to GCMS for positives. There's got to be more to the story.

Good luck...... not sure I would be looking forward to spending the next 3+ years at a place like this.
 
lynda19 said:
So the update so far is: I asked the health director who is in contact with the lab if the lab did or could run the GC-MS test which is supposed to differentiate btwn pseudoephedrine & amphetamine. He said "well the lab doesnt seem to feel that the pseudoephedrine according to their assay could have caused the positive result." No word on whether they did the GC-MS. He wants to meet me this week.
I then asked, "Well can someone tell me what my options are from this point or what the possible outcomes of this are?" ans: "the options are for us to meet." No word on what this meeting is about. I called my program director's office. They said, yes they know pseudoephedrine can have a + cross reactivity & to just go to the meeting, that the health director is very reasonable & nice & to see what he says. If there are any problems after that to contact them & they will see what the options are at that point.
Im just a little annoyed to not get any answers when I ask a question. I have no idea what this meeting is about. I guess I'm just being impatient not knowing what they might say to me.
well, I havent taken my claritin d since yesterday & dont plan to till after wed in case they do a retest...
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I would be very concerned about this. They have to this point essentially said they don't agree with your assertion that this is a cross reactivity issue. That would mean that they think you were using. Now the plan is to have a meeting that no one will give you any info about beforehand.

I think it would be reasonable to ask who will be at the meeting and how long it will last. Those are always reasonable questions for any meeting. If it's just you and your PD that's good. If there will be higher ups or hospital council there be afraid. If the meeting will last less than 15 minutes that's a concern because that's only long enough to inform you that you don't have a residency anymore.

Another thing is not to leap into any offers of diversion programs. If you consent to go through diversion you are admitting that you were using. While completion of such a program would allow you to continue it would follow you forever.
 
DocB that is exactly my concern-that they will 'offer' to put me on probation or ask me to go through some sort of program. i would have to say no to both bc I agree that will be the same as admitting I was using something illegal. I dont think I would have a problem with repeat testing, even random repeat testing. At this point I am interested in #1 being able to start the year, #2 having my sample proven to be amphetamine-free. I wouldnt have cared too much about #2 except now that they have said they dont believe its pseudoephedrine I'll admit its kind of a matter of pride now for them to see that they were ridiculously wrong. & I feel the lab needs to correct their methods of assessing whether or not to do confirmatory tests. I realize that I may not be vindicated & if they let me start it may be them just saying, ok we'll believe you for now. That would be a little upsetting but at least I could start.

What is most frustrating is having someone tell you, oh we dont think its psuedoephedrine, when you in your heart & mind KNOW they are completely 100% wrong in that assessment & not being able to get them to take a step further to allow you to prove yourself.

EUA, I feel kind of calm about all this (which even surprises myself lol) but dont get me wrong, I definitely have a healthy concern. Im more frustrated than worried. I'm not very confrontational with higher ups- I tend to go along with the program, so to speak-but I at least know enough to not agree to certain stipulations at this meeting. I was told that the director (review director? not the PD) is a very reasonable & fair man-I hope so.

Well, I will update the events as they occur--I think this is a real learning experience, not just for me but maybe for others that might have to go through this in the future. Thank you guys for all of your support & advice.It has helped tremendously thus far!
 
:laugh: & i'd like to mention that I have a serious sinus headache & have been sneezing since yesterday without my "drug of choice" lol
 
In a good substance abuse prevention program (and it sounds like the OPs is lousy), positive values are sent to a medical review officer who should interview all cases where there is a possibility of legitimite use (narc, stimulants). At that point, you can show a script/medical records and the case would be marked "legitimate use".

Ed
 
Do NOT agree to any type of diversion program. If you agree to repeat drug testing, I think that you should insist that a letter be placed in your file at human resources and/or the GME office, in which you state that you never used any illicit substance and that you assert that your positive test was from pseudoephedrine, and that you requested that your original sample be sent for confirmatory/discriminatory testing, such as GC-MS. There is NO EXCUSE for them not to find out what the substance is, really. And given that you have nothing to hide, it is to your advantage to make sure you do.

I commend you for being calm about all this, and it's possible that this will all go away. However, if it doesn't, I do think that you need to protect yourself, and consider getting an attorney. I would NOT do it now, because so far there isn't a big problem yet. If your program reports these test results to the state medical board or something, that would be bad, because I can tell you that every time you go to get a license in the future in any state, they are going to ask you about if you've ever been placed under drug treatment, etc. So DON'T agree to that no matter what anyone says to you. I know it's easy for us to say that on this message board, but if you are telling the truth then your program doesn't have a leg to stand on if they try to get you for something you didn't do. However, that doesn't mean they can't retaliate against you if you try to fight them, so proceed carefully. I think you are taking the correct route right now in trying to resolve things tactfully.
 
The cautionary words from DF, aPD and docB are right on; this is serious and scary stuff.

While I don't recommend legal representation at this point, I might suggest that you consider asking your future PD to come with you to the meeting. You want their support and they should give it. And unless that meeting is taped (and who knows what it will entail since they are so vague as to its meaning), you need someone there who is at least peripherally on your side who can verify the outcome of the meeting.
 
MediumDef said:
On this front I wouldn't quote it in your defense since apparently he admitted to taking Claritin D and Adderall but neglected to mention he was also doing Meth. (Allegedly of course)
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That's what the driver is saying, pseudoephedrine is the main ingredient in illegal meth. It can cause a false positive for methamphetamine abuse. He says he wasn't using meth, that the pseudoephedrine in the Claritin caused a false positive for meth.
 
Hi everyone, again I thank you all for your great advice. I have an update & I think Im in a bit of trouble here: I just realized I wrote a VERY long post, sorry...

So the meeting was with the review director alone. He was very pleasant & the meeting in & of itself was pretty benign. The tone was not at all accusatoory but there seemed to be a theme--I believe he thinks I took something & "forgot" or that I took something that didnt belong to me & am afraid to say so or that someone elses medication got mixed up with mine in my medicine cabinet...

He kept asking me to try to think of anything that I could have taken, does anyone in my house take anything that qualifies as an amphetamine, that maybe it got "mixed up." Well I now understand why he is being so persistent--he said the lab did a gas chromatography after the initial testing & it also came up + for amphetamine. I feel so deflated bc here I was high on my horse so adamant that all they had to do was the GC-MS & it would show the pseudoephedrine & it turns out they did the GC. As far as I understand, they did not do MS.

The meeting started with him describing how strict the handling of the samples are-that it is unlikely the sample is not mine (I agree, the nurse was very adherant to the protocol & showed me every step of the collection process as she did it). He then explained that it is not illegal to take amphetamine & that they tell residents that even if they took something that didnt belong to them they would still not be labeled & would not necessarily be prevented from working. Thats when he started asking me to just try to think if there could be anything that could explain the test results.

It really felt like he wanted me to just say 'oh yeah, thats right, I took my neice/husbands/friend's adderall & I forgot ALL about it.' Again, he was pleasant & kind but the theme of the meeting was 'what are you not telling us?' I dont have an answer for this. I did not take anything except my claritin (& other meds i mentioned in OP-OCP, centrum, advil).

Well, they are sending the sample to another lab. I am preparing to hear the same though, if GC was done in the first lab. Maybe someone out there who knows better than me about these tests can offer some info. I've been looking this up & most studies mention GC/MS so I dont know the specificity for GC alone(?). Well, GC/MS is pretty darn specific. This is what is making me kind of sad. If I was in his position, looking at these results, I would be thinking the same thing he is.

This was a 10-15 minute meeting at the most & we didnt discuss anything anymore sensitive than we have previoously on the phone so I was curious why I had to drive 45 minutes for this meeting. My hsband said he probably wanted to get a look at me as we talked. I dont think whatever impresion I made on him matters much-I dont think he thinks I am an addict. I think he thinks I took something at least once.

So this is where I am now-waiting for a second lab. I dont know what will happen if the results are the same. I dont know if they will let me start, ask me to agree to stippulations or just cancel my contract. I still cannot agree to a program or probation or anything that implies I admit to having taken something.

I still have the idea of an attorney sitting in the back of my mind, if need be. But, like I said, I also now sort of understand their position at this point. I am not going to give up but I feel a little dejected. I am still calm though (somehow!) lol. I am not foolish though, I get this is serious & I am even kind of expecting a negative outcome here with this new information...

Well, I dont know when the 2nd lab is spposed to have the results but orientation starts real soon. I dont know if I can go or not. I will definitely update the story when I get more info. Thank you everyone again. I cant tell you how much the advice has helped.
 
lynda19 said:
This was a 10-15 minute meeting at the most & we didnt discuss anything anymore sensitive than we have previoously on the phone so I was curious why I had to drive 45 minutes for this meeting. My hsband said he probably wanted to get a look at me as we talked. I dont think whatever impresion I made on him matters much-I dont think he thinks I am an addict. I think he thinks I took something at least once.
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They had to meet with you face to face because there is a specific process being followed and a paper trail being created. If they decide to not let you start they could be in trouble if they haven't followed their own processes so that's what they're doing.

I agree with not changing your story and saying you might have taken someone else's med. At best that's you changing your story which looks bad and at worst it sounds like it could be a bait and switch where you try to play ball but they dump you anyway.

I think you should get a lawyer. Your program does not have to be aware of it but you need to be getting advice from a labor lawyer who knows the laws in your state.
 
docB said:
They had to meet with you face to face because there is a specific process being followed and a paper trail being created. ...

...I think you should get a lawyer. Your program does not have to be aware of it but you need to be getting advice from a labor lawyer who knows the laws in your state.
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I agree completely with docB. The face to face meeting is one step on the road to termination, and sending the sample to an outside lab is another (ie: hey, we weren’t out to get her, this other lab thought the same thing). Your next step is to talk to a lawyer.

What kind of lawyer should she seek out? Employment lawyer? Or is there someone better for this?
 
Sorry to hear about your problems. I was a chem/biochem major in college and there's a big difference between GC vs GCMS.
GC (gas chromatography), is a separation/purification technique based on polarity. Basically you push gas (or liquids sometimes) of different polarities through a column and compounds with similar polarities are flushed out. If this is all they did then they'll just see that something with the same polarity was in your sample, which you would expect since there is a known cross reaction between the pseudoephedrine and amphetamine (they probably have the same polar group sitting on them somewhere).

GCMS (gas chromatography mass spectroscopy) will do the same thing but it also has a detector on it that shows the mass of the different groups on the compounds. Not only will it isolate things of different polarities, but also different masses of groups.

I remember in organic having labs where they gave you two compounds with identical masses and you could figure out which was which with the mass spec alone half the time. You need to ask for GC-MS.
 
OP, I'm not trying to accuse or anything, but do you use any online or mail-order type pharmacies for anything you take? Or is there any possibility at all that someone may have tampered with what you were taking? Either way, as others have mentioned, GC alone is not enough to conclusively prove that you were on meth and not pseudoephedrine. The other lab will probably run GC/MS or HPLC/MS, and that should conclusively exhonerate you if your suspicion of an earlier false positive is correct. But I agree with others in that you should probably start getting advice from an attorney. If that Chroma/MS comes back positive, then that indicates that somehow amphetamine got into your system, and at that point your career could be jeopardized.
 
Wow, this is bad.
I think that you should definitely NOT admit to taking anything you did not take. Don't change your story. Don't do it no matter what is said or done to you. It would only come back to bite you later.

I'm not a chemist, but I have done medical research and I think the comment above about GC vs. GC/MS is correct. What do you all think of the OP offering to pay his/her own outside expert lab to analyze the sample? It seems like if he/she is telling the truth, then the lab they are using isn't using the right processes to separate out these compounds...pseudoephedrine is a specific compound and it should be able to be separated from others such as methamphetamine, etc. by SOME method...I'm sure there are multiple ones that would do the trick.

I'm hopeful the repeat testing will turn up the truth. I hope the OP gets a proper apology if it does.

At this point I would consider consulting with an attorney. I don't know what kind to recommend (employment lawyer?). Perhaps the OP's state or local medical society could recommend one. I would not tell your program you are seeking this consultation. I would just do it quietly. It can't hurt to get advice...although it will hurt your pocketbook.

I would also try to keep the program director on your side. Tell him/her you absolutely did NOT do this and you are willing to take whatever steps you need to take to prove it.
 
I would also see if you can find a toxicologist to talk to to see if anyone has any other ideas on what could trigger a false positive or under how many different tests pseudoephedrine can come back as false positive for amphetamines.. An outside lab isn't a bad idea though.
 
While the issue of what type of test (GC vs. GC/MS) is really the best to determine the truth it is probably an academic discussion. The program, hospital and their risk managers have a process established with the lab. The lab will do whatever type of testing they are required to by that process. Even if another type of test would have been better that would be an argument for a much later date if the OP and her lawyer ever get to the point of trying to challenge the process.

I would think a labor attorney would be the best as they would really know the rules about employment drug testing. Obviously one with experience dealing with healthcare and physician labor issues would be best.

Let me point out again that just because you go and consult with a lawyer does not mean you have to let your program know you have lawyerd up. You can get some professional advice and then decide what to do next.

Good luck with this.
 
lynda19 said:
He kept asking me to try to think of anything that I could have taken, does anyone in my house take anything that qualifies as an amphetamine, that maybe it got "mixed up."
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This is part of what an MRO does. It is far easier for them to demonstrate use if you admit to it, then if you deny it. The concentrations that they detect are very important. What they can detect and what they can report as positive are two different things. Signals just above the noise are ok for treatment and diagnosis, they are not ok to report a confirmation. Honestly, it may be in your best interest not to talk to them.

Well I now understand why he is being so persistent--he said the lab did a gas chromatography after the initial testing & it also came up + for amphetamine.
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The requirements is that they do a confirmatory test. Which test is up to them. It may now be your burden to demonstrate that they did it wrong. That they did GC but not a GC/MS does imply that they don't do this very often. Typically GC/MS or LC/MS/MS is used.

The precise method that they used will be quite critical:

Did they derivatize the sample or not or did they do both?
What was the injection port temperature (too hot can result in reduction of pseudoephedrine to amphetatmine)? The column type and age?
How good a match is it really? Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.
How often do they do these? Do they have the experience to make sure it is right?
Have they determined that they are actually able to differentiate pseudoephedrine from amphetamine?
Was their method homegrown or is it a standard method?
Have they established that their equipment is properly standardized?
Did they determine the concentration of the amphetamine in the urine? Is it above 250 ng/mL?

I can't say this with certainty, but if they know what they are doing, GC should probably be able to differentiate amphetamine from pseudoephedrine. If they derivatized it, I would definitely expect GC to be able to differentiate.

You may want to get this: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9700558

Honestly, I would acquire a lawyer who has familiarity with this type of defense. There are long term implications.
 
At this point, it sounds like they are retesting it in a new lab, so if there is some sort of "lab error", of if this is a GC vs GCMS issue it will likely be resolved. I don't see any benefit to paying for your own testing at this point. I had thought that all labs who do this kind of work run GCMS or something similar, since these labs all know that their work will need to stand up to legal scrutiny and challenge.

Let's assume the sample tests positive again. Let's assume you're not lying, and you really didn't use any amphetamine. GCMS isn't wrong very often, so then there is amphetamine in your urine. So, where did it come from?

Most likely (to me) would be contamination from the Claritin-D. It is possible that the Claritin-D actually has an amphetamine in it instead of pseudoephedrine. I would consider saving any pills from the same batch -- a possible defense would be to test the lot for amphetamines.
 
Amphetamine and pseudoephedrine are chemically similar.
If the lab they are using isn't that great, they may just not be able to distinguish it. I think a lab error would be more likely than having gotten some "bad Claritin D" unless you got if from some weird overseas pharmacy. The drug companies tend to have good quality control.
But I agree that saving the pills is a good idea.
 
I called to ask about the results-none as of yet. They said I should "by all means attend orientation."
Of course as he had me on the phone he had to ask for the 128th time did I check my medicine cabinet, did I go to the ER for any reason.Oh yeah, I was medevaced to the ED the day before & they must have amped me with epi-I completely forgot...sorry for the sarcasm, he's a pleasant enough guy but I'm getting tired of the same questions. He's going to call the lab & hopefully have an answer in the next day or two.

Dimaok-No rx at all except OCP & albuterol for asthma that I havent used in almost a year-dont even know where my inhaler is (probably not a good idea) & I dont use mail-order. I only live with my husband & 4 month old. I am sure neither of them tampered with anything. My husband asks me if its ok if he can take 2 more advil bc "I already took 2 8 hours ago..." 🙂

aProgDir-thank you for your advice. I am holding on to the claritin. I doubt there's anything wrong with it, but you never know.

Bobaq, BADMD, Docb-thanks for the info. i am not very knowledgable offhand about the chemistry of these tests other than their general principles, so this is useful information.

To all else-I havent yet looked for an attorney but I think I should start the search in case these results come back + also. Maybe they can push for a GC/MS if its not done.

as before, will update as soon as i know more...
 
lynda19 said:
So the update so far is: I asked the health director who is in contact with the lab if the lab did or could run the GC-MS test which is supposed to differentiate btwn pseudoephedrine & amphetamine. He said "well the lab doesnt seem to feel that the pseudoephedrine according to their assay could have caused the positive result." No word on whether they did the GC-MS. He wants to meet me this week.
I then asked, "Well can someone tell me what my options are from this point or what the possible outcomes of this are?" ans: "the options are for us to meet." No word on what this meeting is about. I called my program director's office. They said, yes they know pseudoephedrine can have a + cross reactivity & to just go to the meeting, that the health director is very reasonable & nice & to see what he says. If there are any problems after that to contact them & they will see what the options are at that point.
Im just a little annoyed to not get any answers when I ask a question. I have no idea what this meeting is about. I guess I'm just being impatient not knowing what they might say to me.
well, I havent taken my claritin d since yesterday & dont plan to till after wed in case they do a retest...
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I would be INCREDIBLY concerned about this. This isnt hahaha-crap, this is "my career is essentially over" level of debacle. I run a lab, Ive worked in forensic tox facilities. If this rolls out bad for you, you will be essentially barred from ever getting a medical license in any state or foriegn country for that matter.

You need to stop posting on SDN and seek counsel from literally the best attorney you can afford. You also need to confirm their chain of custody on your sample was intact. You need serious non-internet advice here. Im sorry.

Let this be a lesson to all, do NOT consider any position that mandates drug testing. Walk away, just walk away.
 
LADoc00 said:
I would be INCREDIBLY concerned about this. This isnt hahaha-crap, this is "my career is essentially over" level of debacle. I run a lab, Ive worked in forensic tox facilities. If this rolls out bad for you, you will be essentially barred from ever getting a medical license in any state or foriegn country for that matter.

You need to stop posting on SDN and seek counsel from literally the best attorney you can afford. You also need to confirm their chain of custody on your sample was intact. You need serious non-internet advice here. Im sorry.

Let this be a lesson to all, do NOT consider any position that mandates drug testing. Walk away, just walk away.
Click to expand...


How can we not consider any position that mandates drug testing? 😱

My program requires a urine drug test during orientation as part of the "physical", and as far as I know, most programs do. I would think denying to take one is a big red flag and could cost you your job. In addition, I believe its part of the contract you sign to get the position.

But apart from that, I do agree this IS a serious matter.
 
AnesNavy said:
I would think denying to take one is a big red flag and could cost you your job. In addition, I believe its part of the contract you sign to get the position.
Click to expand...

I would be very interested to know whether current match contracts specifically contain clauses about drug testing. I maybe an old timer, but I know for a fact I never signed any such thing back in the day. Regardless you run a fairly huge risk if it's keystone cop amateurs doing the collection and testing (which it often is..). Caveat emptor.
 
LADoc00 said:
I would be very interested to know whether current match contracts specifically contain clauses about drug testing. I maybe an old timer, but I know for a fact I never signed any such thing back in the day. Regardless you run a fairly huge risk if it's keystone cop amateurs doing the collection and testing (which it often is..). Caveat emptor.
Click to expand...

Urine drug screens (and background checks) are becoming standard in many health care settings. My institution is now performing UDS's on everyone hired, all jobs, all levels. Better keep your current job if you don't want to take one!
 
LADoc00 said:
If this rolls out bad for you, you will be essentially barred from ever getting a medical license in any state or foriegn country for that matter.
Click to expand...

This statement is 100% false and ridiculous. Lot's of docs get in trouble with substance abuse problems. They might have to do some sort of rehab and take random tests, but to say you will "never get a license" in this or any foreign country is absurd.

She'd be better off taking advice from the vet students.
 
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