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.
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.
Placental Tissue 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.
