Your Placenta Rights
After giving birth what happens to your placenta? Hospitals consider your placenta medical waste and will incinerate your placenta unless the patient requests to donate, privately bank, or take their placenta home. If you have a traumatic delivery or if your medical team notices any abnormalities to the placenta, the hospital will send the placenta to pathology for further testing to determine if baby is at risk for any development delays.
What Can I Do with My Placenta After Birth?
Many parents find themselves contemplating what to do with the placenta after birth. From private banking the stem cells found in the tissues to donating for medical science, the options for the placenta after birth are diverse and deeply personal. Regardless of your choice, know that you have options for your placenta.
Private Banking
Placental tissue stem cells are currently being researched in hundreds of clinical trials studying the treatment of conditions and diseases ranging from treatments for internal sicknesses and diseases, to skin and eye wounds.
Donation
By donating your placenta, you're helping to propel groundbreaking medical research, offering hope and healing to others. Placenta donation aids in furthering regenerative medicine and stem cell research by harnessing the unique properties of the placenta.
Discard
If you do not have a plan for your placenta, your hospital will dispose of your placenta as medical waste after birth. The hospital is legally not able to use your placenta for anything purpose beyond pathology without your consent.
More Options
Many parents choose to keep their placenta for reasons beyond donation or private banking. Some may bury it, others may choose to encapsulate it, while others explore other alternative options.
Understanding Your Rights
If your placenta is healthy and you want to take ownership, be sure to understand your rights. What happens to your placenta is governed by state law, and varies according to where you give birth. Even when permitted by state law, some hospitals are resistant to turning over your placenta.
To help ensure the hospital respects your request, we have drafted letters that you can use to assert your rights. Just print them out and bring them with you in case you encounter any issues.
Placenta Laws By State
Click your state on the list below to download statements that affirm your rights to your placenta.
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