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Legal Aspects
When medical practitioners, politicians and ordinary citizens are exposed to new types of treatments, there is often a lot of miscommunication thanks to the fact that there are still many unknowns. This is very true of the practice of collecting blood from a baby’s umbilical cord. Because this is still a fairly new practice and process, there are still many unanswered questions.
While most people do not ethically have a problem using cord blood because it comes from the detached umbilical cord of a living newborn, there still are many legal issues involved.
One of the most important questions is simply the question of exactly whose blood is the donated blood. There are naturally different sides to this argument. Some groups argue that because the umbilical cord is part of the mother’s body, that it is her property. These proponents say it is the legal right of the mother to decide what to do with the cord blood.
On the other hand, because the cord grows and develops along with the child inside of the woman, there are some that argue that the blood from the umbilical cord really belongs to the newborn.
This is an issue that still has not been completely resolved. There are compelling arguments on both sides. With an issue like this, it could be difficult to ever get a consensus (or even a majority) of all judges and lawyers believing the same thing.
Many of the private blood banks that collect cord blood have been advised by their attorneys to follow a cautious practice when dealing with this blood. Most of these banks store the blood in the name of the child, but the mother is able to act as the trustee and has legal power to decide what to do with the blood. However, this changes once the child reaches 18 years of age and becomes an adult.
The cord blood becomes the sole ownership of the child on his or her 18th birthday. Until that time, the mother can make the choice to use the cord blood for a transplant on the child or potentially help treat a sibling.
The issue changes slightly when the issue of cord blood donation comes up. This is harder to regulate because it has not been privatized like it is with regular blood banks. There are many who believe that even when a child turns 18, he or she will not have the rights to the blood that was donated as a newborn. Many argue this blood is instead viewed as a gift from the mother to society. This means the child would never have the right to it.
The question of what rights the hospital has to the blood need to be addressed. By definition, the cord blood is often simply considered to be discarded human material. It basically would fall into the same category as the afterbirth. However, because there are sensitivities associated with cord blood, a hospital should not take the blood without the permission of the mother. Legal and ethical questions could arise if a hospital chooses to do otherwise.
As the research of cord blood continues so will the raising of legal questions in regard to it.
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