The placenta is a temporary organ that forms during pregnancy, providing oxygen and nutrients to the developing fetus and removing waste products. It is expelled after the baby is delivered in the third stage of labor. Once its role is complete, the question of what happens to the placenta—and whether the parents must pay for it—involves issues of law, medicine, and personal choice.
Legal Status and Default Hospital Protocol
The idea of “paying for” the placenta is complicated by its legal classification. In most jurisdictions, including the United States, the placenta is categorized as biohazardous medical waste once removed from the patient’s body. This categorization is governed by regulations requiring biological materials to be handled and disposed of safely.
If no specific request is made, the standard hospital procedure is disposal through incineration or other biohazard waste protocols. This routine disposal is factored into the overall cost of delivery and is not billed separately. Although ownership is ambiguous, the hospital temporarily assumes control for liability reasons to ensure proper handling.
The hospital must comply with strict infectious waste disposal regulations. However, an increasing number of states recognize exemptions if the patient requests the placenta for cultural, religious, or personal use. If the patient does not formally request it, the placenta defaults to the hospital’s waste stream, and the patient pays nothing extra.
Costs Associated with Retrieval and Personal Use
While the placenta itself does not have a price tag, costs arise when a patient deviates from the default disposal protocol. Requesting the placenta for personal use, such as encapsulation or burial, necessitates specific handling that results in administrative charges. These Hospital Handling Fees are variable and cover the labor for proper packaging, temporary cold storage, and necessary release paperwork. These fees cover the hospital’s increased liability and procedural steps, not the organ’s value.
The most significant costs are associated with third-party processing services for items like encapsulation, tinctures, or keepsakes. Encapsulation involves steaming, dehydrating, grinding, and placing the tissue into capsules, typically ranging from $150 to $500 depending on the provider. Many specialists include the cost of a sterile collection kit and transportation for safe pickup and delivery of the finished product.
Placenta Donation and Research
A third option is to donate the placenta for medical research or therapeutic applications. This process is highly regulated and involves rigorous screening and informed consent from the mother before delivery. The placenta and its tissues, such as the amnion and chorion membranes, are used in medical fields, including skin grafts, wound healing, and pharmaceutical development.
A donor does not receive payment for the tissue, as federal laws prohibit the selling of human organs and tissues. The donation is altruistic, and the mother incurs no cost. Institutions that acquire the donated tissue, such as procurement organizations, cover the expenses related to collection, testing, and storage. The mother’s role is to consent and undergo screening to ensure the tissue is safe and suitable.