Lack of Cord Blood Collection Services at Cavan General Hospital in Ireland

I was most disappointed to read about the case of Catriona McCauley, a stem cell scientist who has worked in stem cell research for multi-national pharmaceutical companies and is in the know of the benefits of stem cells.

THE CASE:

Ms. McCauley had already signed up for stem cell banking with an Irish cord blood bank and the doctors at the hospital where she is due to deliver have denied her request of assisting with the cord blood collection (which, by the way, only takes 5-10 minutes of the doctor's time and is "extremely easy" see quote in article by Obstetric doctor Gerry Rafferty).

She said that she will have to extract the blood herself after she gives birth (how ridiculous!!) as the doctors and management staff of the hospital believe that there is "insufficient" evidence to support cord blood stem cell storage. Additionally, they are concerned about the ethics, logistics and potential litigation.


All of these points can be simply addressed:


Ethics: It is collected with patient's consent -causing no harm to the baby- from the placenta and umbilical cord which contains blood that's going to be discarded anyway. The patient will also be paying for all costs involved.

Logistics: Irish cord blood stem cell bank and parents should be able to sort this out, it isn't the hospital's responsibility to send it to the processing facility.

Potential Litigation: Typically the patient signs a waiver for the collection, indemnifying the doctor, hospital and anyone related to the facility. As long as all the factors of non-viable collection are properly explained, most parents understand.


THE RATIONALE:

Critics of this service always quote the figure of a child ever needing its own stem cells to be in the range of 1 in 20,000 but what diseases does that take into account? Only cancer? And in what span of time? How about projecting forward for a lifetime? (think heart disease, stroke, joints, limb ischemia*... all conditions not to be sniffed at).

Doctors may also wish to acknowledge that patients have a right to invest in the various types of insurance policies for their children, but unlike any traditional insurance policies, the possible applications of stem cell therapy continues to grow every month.

I wonder if they would permit the cord blood collection if she already had a child who needed the stem cells for therapy?

My medical director gave me an analogy in his area of specialty. Recall the days when epidurals (spinal anaesthesia) first started, it was believed by many that you would suffer spinal damage for the rest of your life. Now, with the improved instruments and greater imaging power to guide doctors in training, the technique has become so commonplace that all hospitals offering anaesthesia provide the service as another tick on the delivery checklist (yes international readers, Malaysian obstetric care is quite up to-date).

Cord Blood Collection should be a tick on a hospital checklist; hospital management should actively take part in continual medical education to keep up with the scientific pace and be on the lookout for revolutionary healthcare services.

Ms. McCauley, get your cord blood stem cell bank to help with the collection if they can**. Otherwise, you could consider selecting a hospital that has a sympathetic management and clinical team who will facilitate your request.



*While no stem cell banks can guarantee that your baby's cord blood stem cells will cure the diseases mentioned (eg. heart disease, cancer, anemias, etc.), I don't know of any doctor, surgeon or hospital who would guarantee the success of any existing invasive procedure conducted in their facility either.


**StemLife acknowledges our tireless collaborators. Obstetric doctors and nurses who make StemLife's cord blood collection service available for patients (in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia & Singapore) and do their utmost to ensure that their patients have the greatest number of stem cells for future therapy with minimal risks of contamination. You have already helped save 2 StemLife family members.