[Histonet] "placenta encapsulation"

[O'Donnell, Bill]

Now THAT"S NATURAL CHILDBIRTH!

In my 30 years of histology, I have had two such requests.
(Interestingly, one was about ten years ago - must have been an early
adopter) 

Risk management has a much bigger headache than I do, I just deliver it
to their department, they get it to the patient. 

Question for histonetters - Is this cannibalism? One of the questions I
was never allowed to ask at an interview "What is your feeling about
cannibalism?" Maybe I may allowed to ask it now. - Just having some fun,
I do not advocate cannibalism, and I am sorry if I offeneded any
cannibals (in the vein of redneck lent thread) - Bill

-----Original Message-----
From: histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
[mailto:histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Bob
Richmond
Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2012 12:18 PM
To: histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: [Histonet] "placenta encapsulation"

Just when you thought life couldn't get weirder, it does.

I've been hearing scattered tales of women eating their own (actually
their babies') placentas for years, but I didn't know about "placenta
encapsulation" until my daughter's college classmate Nancy Redd (she's
at nancyredd.com) bylined a New York Times story
http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/i-regret-eating-my-placent
a/?scp=1&sq=placenta&st=cse

and then got on ABC news this morning.
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/eating-placenta-trend-safe-16019081

It seems the pill-'n'-potion culture has come to the rescue, with
services (they seem to be local operations, no mail-order, probably how
they slip under the regulatory radar) that for $200 or so will dry and
grind up your baby's placenta and put it into large gelatin capsules. It
has to be your own baby's placenta, by the way. Here's a graphic
demonstration of how it's done
http://www.cafemom.com/journals/read/1577334/Placenta_Encapsulation_Inst
ructions_w_Pictures

And here's a FAQ that answers some, but not all questions a pathology
service might have.
http://birth-wise.org/faq

They want the placenta refrigerated, or possibly frozen. Formaldehyde is
prohibited.

Seems to me that this could turn into a major headache for a pathology
service, and that some conferring with the necessary people in advance
would be a good idea.

An obvious concern would be bacterial overgrowth.

Eeeeewwww!

Bob Richmond
Samurai Pathologist
Knoxville TN

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