Follow-Up

In a settlement agreement reached Sept. 8 with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights, the Medical University of South Carolina has agreed to stop telling Charleston police and prosecutors when pregnant women test positive for cocaine (“In the Name of the Children,” by Barry Siegel, Aug. 7).

The federal Office for Civil Rights had been investigating charges of racial discrimination in the hospital’s policy toward pregnant substance abusers. The office’s agreement with the medical center ends the threat of the hospital’s losing federal financial assistance, including Medicare and Medicaid funds. The settlement does not affect a $3-million suit filed on behalf of pregnant hospital patients by the Center for Reproductive Law & Policy. That lawsuit remains in the pretrial stage in federal district court.