Placenta Handoff

Anne Swanson emerged triumphantly from Sunrise Hospital on Wednesday afternoon with her baby’s placenta tucked safely away in a white styrofoam cooler prominently branded with bright orange biohazard stickers.

This case has been at the forefront of my mind for nearly four months, so it’s a little hard to believe that it’s all over. I am just thrilled that Anne had the tenacity to follow through with the court order, and ended up setting a positive precedent for other women to receive their healthy placentas from hospitals. I know this is only the first battle, but victory does taste sweet.

KTNV, Channel 13 was there to cover the story – I even have a brief interview.

Anne gets her placenta!

— Update – Details —

We will be parking near the SE corner of Maryland Parkway and Desert Inn, then meeting near the doors of the Maternal Health unit of Sunrise Hospital. My phone is 702.947.0879 if you need it. I plan to arrive by 12:45.

See you there!

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On Wednesday August 1, Anne Swanson will go to Sunrise Hospital at 1pm to pick up her baby’s placenta. After 3 months and a court order, the hospital is finally doing the right thing by releasing the placenta to her.

Join us at the hospital to show them that we support every woman’s right to walk out of a hospital with her baby AND her placenta! We give birth to both, we should be able to take both home to care for them in an appropriate manner, according to our beliefs and values.

Thanks for standing up and fighting, Anne! You are a wonderful advocate for women’s rights.

Swanson vs. Sunrise Hospital

David Lee, the attorney representing Anne Swanson, started the proceedings by saying there is no law on the points of this case, that it instead had to be decided on common sense. John Bailey, the attorney for Sunrise Hospital, said they based their decision to refuse to release the placenta on the fact that a potential risk may or may not be present; that the placenta had been contaminated (which was their doing anyway); and that her statement that she wished to ingest the placenta caused concern.

Judge Susan Johnson raised some questions over whether the placenta was considered a body part or a byproduct. She used the analogy of liposuction, where fat is removed – that would be considered a byproduct. David Lee didn’t directly answer that question, but instead talked about the now-common practice of cord blood removal and storage. The umbilical cord and stem-cell-rich cord blood is removed and given to the parents for a potential medical benefit. The placenta has value to the mother, and also may have a potential medical benefit to her. The placenta has no value for the hospital; in fact, they just want to destroy it.

Judge Johnson began her decision by saying this was the most unusual case she had ever heard, and that she understood the hospital’s concerns. She granted the plaintiff’s motion for injunction, and ordered Sunrise Hospital to release the placenta to Anne Swanson. Sunrise’s attorneys can write their own release of liaibility, and that the patient understands the placenta is likely contaminated. The two sides will work out a method of transport that is acceptable to both sides. Judge Johnson pointed out that in some parts of the world, it’s considered beneficial to drink one’s own urine – while that is not something she would recommend doing, she can’t say that it’s necessarily a bad thing, either. I’m not sure I would liken the benefits of placenta to drinking urine, but if that correlation brought the judge around to our side, then so be it.

So, there is the full disclosure of the court proceedings on 7.17.07, according to my observations. I am pleased that the judge saw that Anne has the right to her own baby’s placenta.

I want to thank the multitude of supporters that lent time, money or other resources to this case. It has been so gratifying to see our local community pull together in such a big way to create real change. This is just the first step toward solidifying a woman’s right to her own body’s natural creation – more action will need to be taken in order to protect every woman from this type of situation.

I will follow this up by saying that I do NOT recommend any woman in Las Vegas deliver at Sunrise Hospital – particularly if she hopes to take her placenta home. I just talked to a woman today who is due soon; she was considering either Sunrise Hospital or Southern Hills Hospital and I strongly encouraged her to avoid Sunrise. Any hospital who would subject a new mother to the level of intimidation, stress and heartache that Sunrise imposed upon Anne Swanson does not deserve the patronage of one more pregnant woman. There are other, more positive hospitals that are willing to accomodate and respect the choices a grown woman makes about her own body and health.

I am currently putting together a list of area hospitals that willingly release placentas, and will post it here as soon as it is done. If you are curious about a particular hospital’s stance in the meantime, please contact me – if I don’t know, I will find out for you.

We won!

Judge Susan Johnson decided to grant Anne Swanson’s request for possession of her baby’s placenta!

We are both thrilled at this outcome. The judge only had to rule today whether the injunction was granted, which would stop the hospital from destroying the placenta. She went one step further and issued that Anne should be given back her placenta, in a timely manner.

I am going to put my notes together a bit more before posting the full details, but I wanted to get this out right away.

Congratulations, Anne!

Injunction hearing tomorrow

The hearing for the injunction that Anne Swanson filed against Sunrise Hospital is tomorrow morning at the Regional Justice Center, 200 Lewis Avenue. I am going to be there to support Anne, and am very interested in what the judge will have to say regarding the hospital holding her baby’s placenta for the past three months. I will post to the blog as soon as possible to keep everyone updated. Channel 13 news has already called to verify the time and date, so hopefully we will have some media coverage at the hearing.

Court Date Update

The hearing for the injunction filed against Sunrise Hospital by Anne Swanson has been postponed to July 17.

This will give us ample time to prepare our case. We are still looking for additional expert witnesses in the event the case goes to trial. If you are a medical professional willing to sign an affadavit or testify in court as to the safety of releasing a healthy placenta to its mother, please contact me.

Court Date

Anne Swanson has officially acquired legal counsel in the fight against Sunrise Hospital for her baby’s placenta. The current court date is June 21, but apparently the lawyers for the hospital have requested an extension, so that may change. We are hopeful that the hospital has indeed saved her placenta at this point, though we are not certain. It was supposedly frozen within 48 hours of its birth. Since hospital staff allegedly cross-contaminated it, we are trying to figure out how exactly to have it tested for contamination. In the meantime, Anne has found a doctor willing to transport it for her if it is required, and if it is decided that the hospital must release it to her. Additionally, more than one physician has said they will be willing to testify as to the safety of releasing a healthy placenta to its mother, which is fantastic news. I will post updates as I get them.

Back at it! Another story to share…

I am back to blogging in Las Vegas. I had a wonderful, relaxing time away, but it is back to business. A woman shared her own personal and painful story with me as a result of reading this blog, and I am sharing it with you now (with her permission).

Rebecca’s Story

“I was just writing to tell you how very much I appreciate what you are doing. I had an ectopic pregnancy removed, along with my right tube, after I hemorrhaged in the hospital. I gave no informed consent, was poorly treated, and then told I couldn’t have my baby’s remains. The hospital gave us no information. We finally went to the lab that my tissue had been sent to, without our consent, and they released what little they had left–only after a fight. I don’t know what right hospitals have to take parts of our bodies and then claim them as their own, but I do know I will never willingly enter a hospital like that again. The bottom line is this: a woman’s body is no longer her own once she enters a hospital, and many times the law supports any and all invasive techniques the hospitals wish to use, including the removal and disposal of our body parts and children’s remains. I, too, grieve about the treatment of women in the medical community, as if we are owned. If we aren’t owned by the medical community, at the very least our body parts and babies are. It’s so sad.”

Thank you, Rebecca, for speaking out. Until recently, I was not aware that hospitals were given such broad rights with regards to a woman’s body. I suspect that I am not the only one who has been in the dark. I’ve been accused of being an idealist, but I just assumed that what a woman creates inside her womb would, unquestionably, be hers.

I have never given birth inside a hospital, and I am feeling more and more blessed for that fact every day.

Speaking of hospitals, I’ve been in touch with several more in the Las Vegas area, with some positive results to report! I am gratified to learn that some hospitals here are more progressive than others. Please stay tuned for that update coming soon.

Injunction filed, and fund set up

Anne Swanson, owner of Hypnobirthing Las Vegas, filed an injunction today to stop Sunrise Hospital from destroying her baby’s placenta against her wishes.

The mother who was rudely denied access to her baby’s placenta (yet promptly billed for the cost of delivering at North Vista Hospital) has decided not to file an injunction, as her placenta has also been ruined for encapsulation by careless staff. She explicity requested that the placenta be placed in the freezer until she was able to proceed with the court order as they demanded. When she called today to verify that they had indeed saved the placenta, she was told that it was still in the refrigerator. Since her baby will be a week old tomorrow, the placenta has now been rendered nearly useless, since the beneficial hormones she planned to utilize via the capsules dissipate over time. She cannot justify the fees to file an injunction to save it when she can not use it for its intended purpose anyway. She is holding open her option for a lawsuit in the future, and said she will definitely join our cause and add her name to the growing list of women fighting for change.

Anne would like to make sure that we proceed with her case in a way that will be best for women overall. Allowing Sunrise Hospital to destroy her baby’s placenta at this point would render all future legal action moot. Therefore, she needed to go ahead and file an injunction, effectively buying us more time to explore the legal options open to us.

The cost to file an injunction is nearly $200, even with a team of lawyers donating their time, efforts and energy for free. As a result, I have created a fund to help Anne with these legal costs. If we raise an excess of money beyond what is needed for Anne’s case, the remaining funds will be used to help offset legal fees for women who are forced down the same path as Anne in the future, and to fuel efforts for legislative relief from this issue.

If you would like to help our cause, please send your donation via PayPal to LegalizePlacenta -at- PlacentaBenefits -dot- info, or click on the Make a Donation button.

If you believe that a woman has a right to take home what she created and birthed, which sustained the life of her child in her womb, and which would naturally be born still attached to that child…

If you believe that it is wrong for a hospital to claim possession and complete ownership of a woman’s placenta once it is born and the umbilical cord severed…

If you believe that, then please get involved in this fight.

Spread awareness by emailing your friends a link to this blog, write letters to the editor at the Las Vegas Review-Journal or the Las Vegas Sun newspapers, write to our local legislators, write to hospital administrators, call media outlets to tell them you want to hear more about this situation, educate people as to the natural use of placenta starting at PlacentaBenefits.info – do whatever is within your power to do, but please do something. Outrage without action is useless.

If you are a pregnant woman in Nevada, call the Unit Manager (sometimes referred to as the House Supervisor) who is over the Labor & Delivery floor at your hospital of choice and notify them immediately of your desire to take your placenta home after its birth. If they say they will release it to you , get that in writing before you walk in to deliver your baby. If they say they need to hold it for a certain number of days, ask if they will place it in the freezer for the duration of the holding period, then get that in writing.

If they tell you they will not release your own baby’s placenta to you after the birth of your child, get that in writing, and then contact me. After you get their denial in writing, and you really do want to take your baby’s placenta home, tell them you will be going to another hospital that will respect your wishes. YOU PAY THEM for their services – you are a customer and deserve to have your wishes respected. You would not go back to a restaurant where the staff openly mocked your requests or acted like you were a silly, foolish woman for asking a question; charged you full price for the experience of being within the walls of their facility; and then honestly felt that you had no right to complain after they denied your request because it’s their “restaurant policy” to do so. I would expect you would choose another restaurant, even if it is a few extra miles down the road.

We’re talking about the birth of our children, mamas. You have a choice, but you need to make that choice before you go into labor. Unfortunately, once you are within the walls of a hospital, it has been proven time and again that your opinion and desires for your birth experience do not matter as much as you would think.

Help urgently needed!

The lawyer we are working with on this case has said that we need an MD who is willing to testify that releasing a placenta to the mother does not pose a health risk. The hospital will have their legal team working with a variety of doctors who will testify that it does pose a health risk, extreme enough that they should not have to release Anne’s placenta for her own safety (and probably that of the public at large). They will also have officials from the health department presenting their concerns over the release of placentas to women. We have to have an MD willing to argue for our side, or the lawyer will likely not even try the case. I have been calling on my top list of helpful doctors, but nobody has been willing to "stick their neck out" for this, or commit "professional suicide", to quote some of the responses I have received. I understand their position, since their livelihood could very well be at stake.

 This is bad news, because the hospitals in Las Vegas are now aware of this issue, and I am very concerned that they will stop releasing placentas to women at all. I have heard comments from some area hospitals that were previously placenta-friendly say that releasing a placenta from their facility "will never happen again".

Anne heard from Sunrise Hospital on Friday (4-27) that they will keep her placenta frozen for one more week, at which time they will dispose of it unless court papers are filed.

We are running out of time. Please help if you can. Call anyone with the initials M.D. after their name who you think might even possibly be interested in helping us – from my understanding, they do not need to be local to Las Vegas to help. If you are an MD willing to help our cause, retired or otherwise, please contact me.
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