[Histonet] Release of Tissue Policy/ form

[richard cartun]

 Hi, Valerie!
I worked in Pathology at a hospital here in Connecticut for many years and handled all these requests, sometimes in conjunction with our Legal Department.  The State of Connecticut has a statute that states human tissue can only be handled by medical personnel in hospitals, surgery centers, labs, or funeral homes.  Therefore, we would only release patient specimens that were in formalin (mostly fetuses for burial) to a representative from a funeral home.  The patient or family member would have to contact the funeral home for pickup and pay for all associated charges.  We also had a release form that the requestor and the funeral home would have to complete and sign off on.    With the exception of a fetus for burial, these requirements almost always resulted in patients canceling their initial request.  I also found that speaking with the requester and educating them on this issue helped, too.  For example, many towns have ordinances that prohibit burying human tissue on the homeowner's property.  
For patients who wanted their "fresh" placenta after giving birth, our hospital policy was for the OB Department to handle it; Pathology did not get involved!
I hope this information helps.
Richard W. Cartun, MS, PhDMorphologic Proteomics, LLC   On Monday, June 16, 2025 at 03:53:06 PM EDT, Hannen, Valerie via Histonet <histonet at lists.utsouthwestern.edu> wrote:  
 
 Good Afternoon all!!

I am hoping someone can share with me their policy and form that is used in accordance of the policy on the subject of releasing tissue per patient request to the patient?  We have had a few incident recently where the patient/ family has asked for placenta and or the fetus ( less than 20 weeks gestation).

My concern is that these specimens or any specimen in formalin is the formalin! We have a very old policy and I am not comfortable with it. I would like to use other's policies as a guide (not copy it verbatim).  Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated.


TIA.

v/r,
Valerie

Valerie A. Hannen,MLT(ASCP),HTL,SU(FL)
Histology Section Chief
Parrish Medical Center
951 N. Washington Avenue
Titusville, Florida 32796
P: 321-268-6333  Ext. 7506
F: 321-268-6149
valerie.hannen at parrishmed.com<mailto:valerie.hannen at parrishmed.com>
www.parrishmed.com

_______________________________________________
Histonet mailing list
Histonet at lists.utsouthwestern.edu
http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet