Do you allow patients to take home their placentas if desired? more

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Specializes in OB, lactation.

I know this has probably been discussed before but I didn't find it when I searched.

Do you allow patients to take home their placentas if desired?

Do they have to sign anthing in order to do so?

Do you address this in your policies?

This doesn't come up often for us but it did last night and the patient was told no under the umbrella of "biohazardous waste".

Thanks for any feedback!

Cheers,

mm

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Specializes in L&D,Wound Care, SNC.

We had a patient not too long ago donate hers to the local police department. She was a police officer and it would be used to help train search and rescue dogs. However she did not deliver during my shift so I am not sure what if any paperwork she had to sign. I don't believe there is any thing in the policies and procedures that covers it.

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Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.

Ours get them if they want them.

Nothing to sign that I know of, just a biohazard bag for taking it home.

Doesn't happen much, but it does happen.

Once a family member supposedly took a placenta home.

Imagine everyone's wonderment (and gagging) when it was found a couple weeks later in that pt's former room. The family member of the pt currently occupying the room said, "That bag isn'ts ours, it was here when we got here." Someone took the bag out, opened it up and oh boy.....

I'd like take my placenta home next time. *crunches her granola*

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I know this has probably been discussed before but I didn't find it when I searched.

Do you allow patients to take home their placentas if desired?

Do they have to sign anthing in order to do so?

Do you address this in your policies?

This doesn't come up often for us but it did last night and the patient was told no under the umbrella of "biohazardous waste".

Thanks for any feedback!

Cheers,

mm

hmm if the placenta is biohazard, why isnt the baby?....the refusal was basically culturally insensitive...

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Specializes in Gyn Onc, OB, L&D, HH/Hospice/Palliative.

I Have seen A number of pt's families do this 2/2 religious tradition, i.e. in Judaism it is customary to bury the placenta )and other body parts-- like amputated limbs) no paperwork for the placenta that I am aware of,the limbs go to the morgue and the funeral home comes to get them and buryit/them

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hmm if the placenta is biohazard, why isnt the baby?....

In our hospital we can not touch the baby without gloves until it has been completely bathed so I guess technically it is considered a biohazard until bathed......

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Specializes in Neonatal ICU (Cardiothoracic).

:barf01:

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Sure we do. We just put it in the tupperware type tub and send it home with them.

Not everyone wants to do it; only about 1 out of every 50 seem to ask for it. But I've found that if you specifically ask people if they want the placenta, about 1 out of every 20 will say yes and take it home.

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Specializes in L&D.

Many of our Native American patients choose to take the placenta home. We just put it in the plastic container with a lid and then in a red bag. If the family doesn't take it right home, we label it and send it to the lab for refrigeration until the patient is ready to leave.

Some places have a special consent for this, some insist the placenta is placed in formalyn. I think the formalyn is more hazaradous than the placenta itself. Some places have special forms explaining that the placenta is a bio hazard and proper methods of disposition. I guess we don't make such a big deal of it because it's a cultural thing with our patients, something they've been doing without problem for generations.

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Specializes in ED, ICU, Heme/Onc.
I Have seen A number of pt's families do this 2/2 religious tradition, i.e. in Judaism it is customary to bury the placenta )and other body parts-- like amputated limbs) no paperwork for the placenta that I am aware of,the limbs go to the morgue and the funeral home comes to get them and buryit/them

Jews don't bury placentas or save foreskins or anything of the sort.

Blee

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Specializes in Gyn Onc, OB, L&D, HH/Hospice/Palliative.

Blee O'Myacin[/b];2549713]Jews don't bury placentas or save foreskins or anything of the sort.

Blee[/quote

Ummmm. excuse me, yes we do.:uhoh21: I'm unsure of the foreskin issue,but we certainly do bury placentas and limbs, esp orthodox ,Hassidic ,but I've had a secular(read--) non-religious Jewish relative bury his leg, I personally gave many a placenta to the father of the baby to speed off to bury before sunset

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Specializes in RN- Med/surg.
Ours get them if they want them.

Nothing to sign that I know of, just a biohazard bag for taking it home.

Doesn't happen much, but it does happen.

Once a family member supposedly took a placenta home.

Imagine everyone's wonderment (and gagging) when it was found a couple weeks later in that pt's former room. The family member of the pt currently occupying the room said, "That bag isn'ts ours, it was here when we got here." Someone took the bag out, opened it up and oh boy.....

I'd like take my placenta home next time. *crunches her granola*

eww. Am I the only one wondering how clean the rooms in your hospital are though if THAT went unnoticed for "a couple of weeks"?? Do you have housekeeping? How was that missed?

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