Legal Rights of Parents for Cord Blood Collection

There was once a time, when we had just initiated StemLife, that I was personally visiting obstetricians to let them know about our service. It was feet-killing work for the initial years, long hours in formal attire and smart shoes, sitting in many a doctor's waiting room for hours before the patients would clear out and the obstetricians could spare a few precious moments to hear us out.

Inevitably, one of the questions that would come up among the more astute clinicians would be regarding the legal implications of collecting umbilical cord blood (perhaps they have experienced litigious clientele themselves before). They would ask what the implications are should the collection not be successful or if there was an emergency and the cord blood could not be collected due to some unpredicted situation. StemLife has a very specific form and clause for this, nothing is absolutely guaranteed and we explain very carefully to parents that in the event of an emergency, the life of mum and babe comes first.

In the same vein, I thought that this article was interesting in that Professor Colin McGuckin has brought up another scenario in which parents would have possible legal recourse with doctors.

That cord blood stem cells have been harnessed for regenerative medical purposes cannot be denied. From trials being conducted on Type 1 diabetes in Florida to Cerebral Palsy at Duke, parents of these afflicted children were not able to foresee the fate of their child nor to take any measured steps to prevent the problem from happening. Doctors also have no way of guaranteeing the safety and wellness of mother and baby. Although advanced equipment and well trained staff can help in mitigating risk factors, everyone appreciates that there are no absolutes in life.

Parents world over who have healthy children, born without any genetic condition and fault may or may not appreciate what parents who have a lifetime of sleepness nights ahead go through without a shred of hope or any help from clinicians who refer to text books and tell parents that there is no cure.


I do appreciate that not every parent can or will want to bank their cord blood stem cells for a variety of reasons but it would seem to me that it would be a good idea for clinicians to cover themselves by at least letting the patients know that the service exists and a stamp on their folders to indicate that they've been told so as to pre-empt that unforseeable case in the future.