Drug addiction, pregnancy, and childbirth: legal issues for the medical and social services communities.

There are many new legal issues emerging as a consequence of the large number of women who abuse drugs during pregnancy. As a result, the medical community has to take greater steps to advise women of the consequences of actions taken during pregnancy. Physicians and hospitals also must develop protocols for obtaining informed consent of a parent or legal guardian before drug tests are run on newborns and for reporting cases of infants born drug dependent. This article focuses on the conflicting interests and rights involved and offers some concrete ideas as to how these interests might be balanced.