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Mother and Hospital Battle Over Placenta

kxnt.com — A Las Vegas mother is battling a local hospital over the ownership of a placenta. Anne Swanson gave birth at Sunrise Hospital last month, and wants her placenta so she can ingest it for its nutrients.

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  • wobitnobby, on 10/12/2007, -6/+139Totally yucky, but totally her right to do it.
    • PATSCRU, on 10/12/2007, -4/+82hospitals often sell placentas to dietary supplement and beauty companies....because that ***** feels good on your face.
    • hiPpymIck, on 10/12/2007, -1/+37FTA
      "Traditional Chinese medicine suggests that the excess hormones in placentas can treat postpartum depression."

      tho i like this bit best

      "Yesterday, Swanson and a group of other women protested outside the Maryland Parkway hospital, with signs reading "Free the Placenta."
    • R34C7, on 10/12/2007, -5/+86... I was going to say something about the ... uh ... being hers, and the hospital not having any right to ... it ..., but thinking about her wanting to ingest it derails my train of thought and sends it spiraling into a fireball of doom...
    • Moskie, on 10/12/2007, -3/+63gag reflex, engage.
    • playthev, on 10/12/2007, -5/+35most other mammals do it all the time
    • ablez3, on 10/12/2007, -30/+4i am suing waste management
      i want my feces back
      so i can ingest it for nutrients

      no. not really

      but i wonder how would placenta taste....
    • illegalcortex, on 10/12/2007, -6/+95@playthev

      I've also seen how "most other mammals" "freshen up" after doing a #2, so I'm not sure how well that line of reasoning holds up.
    • illegalcortex, on 10/12/2007, -0/+160Well, I hope she gets it soon. Cause the only thing worse than placenta is stale placenta.
    • MattS, on 10/12/2007, -1/+68OK - its hers to have if she wants it... but didn't the article say she gave birth LAST MONTH?!! What is the "best if used by" date on placenta? YUCK!
    • Cam_86, on 10/12/2007, -2/+25http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/10/17
      seems relevant... and Delicious!
    • hdtvdust, on 10/12/2007, -8/+3 playthev...other mammals eat their own ***** and puke too. What is your point?

      ablez3...thank god you said "no not really" we all thought you were serious.
    • Gigabutt, on 10/12/2007, -4/+8placentas are people too!
    • z00k, on 10/12/2007, -2/+30"Mmmm Tastes like Baby"
    • archer104, on 10/12/2007, -1/+22"contaminated"
      Yeah right. Those bastards already ate it!
    • alex.will, on 10/12/2007, -0/+54Well, who WOULDN'T want to eat this?

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Human_placenta_both_sides.jpg
    • Hegemony, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10"But because it is contaminated, she has no plans to turn it into pills for consumption"

      So... she's doing this why? That article says that placentas are turned over if they are requested, but this one was contaminated. So I guess I don't understand what she wants with the thing if not to eat it (which just creeps me right the hell out).
    • LonesomeFighter, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4why does she desire it back if she said she will no longer digest it?
      sure there is a point and her rights to fight for, even if just for principle, but no use contacting people and clogging up our legal system.
    • AbortedFetus, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13I don't understand how this isn't cannibalism. It is human flesh, how is this different than eating, say, your own amputated leg?

      I mean I agree that it's her right to eat it if she wants, but yuck.
    • Dakart, on 10/12/2007, -15/+2The hospital shouldn't give this to her for SO MANY reasons:

      1) Cannibalism is illegal dude... Regardless if it's a part of yourself. (Anybody remember in one of the Silence of the Lambs sequels when Hannibal fed some guy his own brains?)
      2) You must have a license to sell food *shudder*. And I'm pretty sure you can't get a license to sell any human byproduct.
      3) It's considered biohazardous waste and last time I checked most hospitals have pretty strong policies about giving out that sorta thing.
    • selrahc, on 10/12/2007, -2/+17Wait so is it cannibalism when someone eats their fingernails and boogers too?
    • audiowizard, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I told you that b*tch is crazy! lmao
    • smackhero, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6in certain communities in the US a new mother's family and close friends will partake in the eating of the placenta with the mother. eating placent helps a woman who's just given birth recoup a lot of nutrients lost during birth. a lot of cultures do this, and many animals do this as well. you can actually find recipes online on how to cook human placenta in a variety of ways. there's really nothing wrong with the practice IMO.

      if she doesn't plan on consuming since it's contaminated, i'm guessing she might still want to hold onto it as a keepsake as many families do. my sociology professor took hers home and buried it and planted a tree over it. i thought that was kind of cool.
    • c0y0t3, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I knew animals did this, have seen them do so, dogs, cats, even cows, but I honestly had no idea "many families in the US do this" as some commenters' suggest (smackhero for one). It makes perfect sense that nature would provide a natural mechanism for the human animal to recovery from pregnancy induced deficiencies by consuming the by product... but I have to say, it sounds nothing like "neat", "cool", or "spiritual" to me... sounds absolutely nasty to me... ok, putting it dried, prepared, into pill form only as a dietary supplement for the mother to combat post-partum depression, ok. But members of the family and close friends consuming it, recipes for cooking it? This sounds like a cultural aberration particular to a few small groups, not something people just decide to do.

      I'm shocked at how sheltered I apparently am.

    • LordVoldemort, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2"In certain communities in the US"

      Where THE ***** are YOU from?
    • ShrimpCrackers, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5"Traditional Chinese medicine suggests that the excess hormones in placentas can treat postpartum depression."

      Traditional Chinese medicine is also famous for destroying your liver and other internal organs and results in the deaths of at least a hundred in Taiwan, and a few thousand in China, every year. Even the first Emperor of China succumbed to traditional Chinese medicine; mercury poisoning thanks to the idea that since in liquid form it could dissolve gold so it had to be "special". The basis for traditional Chinese medicine is in folklore and the bizarre. Anything different is always tacked on with a legend with remarkable special properties. Beware and stay far away from it; keep in mind, even SARS came from eating Civet cats because they supposedly give you "better health and complexion".
    • mem2, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2WTF & EEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

      Sounds like a jackass episode.
    • Myonosken, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1@Alex.will : Sigh, there goes my dinner.
    • noopzilla!, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1eating plancenta isn't uncommon at all. apparently people cook it up just like any other meat or whatever. same goes for umbilical cords ...
    • mrfish, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Maybe she wanted to turn it into a TV Dinner.... get it. Swanson? oh nevermind
  • Aeaus, on 10/12/2007, -2/+45This has to be the first story on Digg that makes me want to puke.
  • SeaMowse, on 10/12/2007, -3/+13Cats and dogs eat the placenta of their babies. It stimulates the milk in their mammary glands. Yum yum!
    • m3mn0n, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I've seen a cat get so carried away with that she took a chunk out of her newborns stomach.
  • redrighthand, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3I've heard of people also buying it next to a bush for some weird reason
    • raabco, on 10/12/2007, -8/+5Why does some damn digg liberazi always has to bring bush into any comment thread?!

      (I keeeeed)
  • redrighthand, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15Anybody have a good Placenta Recipe?
    • Gryffydd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+16UH...I think Tom Cruise does...

      http://www.pugbus.net/artman/publish/04182006_placenta.shtml
    • GirthAgain, on 10/12/2007, -1/+46Emeril's Kicked Up Placenta

      1 large Placenta
      Creole seasoning
      3 tablespoons olive oil
      For the sauce:
      2 tablespoons garlic
      1 tablespoon parsley
      2 tablespoons capers
      1 tablespoon olive oil
      1/4 cup cold butter
      Fresh ground black pepper

      Season the placenta with Creole seasoning. Add olive oil to a saute pan and heat. When oil is hot, add seasoned placenta and saute for 5 minutes, or until placenta is fully cooked. Remove placenta from the saute pan and set aside. To the saute pan, add the garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add the parsley and capers. Add the additional olive oil and saute for 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the cold butter. Season with pepper. Pour the sauce over the placenta. To serve: Spoon the beans into the center of 4 plates. Surround the beans with 4 placenta and top with the caper.


      Bam
    • Fracture98, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10I've got a good polenta recipe. You can just substitute.
    • Nekko17, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11@Girthagain

      Knock it up another notch.
    • denkc, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7@Girthagain

      I think I found your find-replaced recipe http://www.kwqc.net/2001shlf.htm#TV819 but it appears as though you made your own creative touches.

      Surround with 4 placenta? It's hard enough to get one, apparently.
    • nycmac247, on 10/12/2007, -6/+2+++++++++++++++++++++++

      Paris Hilton's Prison Guard Placenta Jambalaya

      One 3 to 4 pound placenta -- cut into serving pieces
      3 cups long grain lice - uncooked
      1/4 cup "masssage" oil
      3 medium white onions - chopped fine
      6 cups toilet-bowl wine
      1 tablespoon salt from tears, or to taste
      2-1/2 teaspoons granulated garlic
      1 cup green onions - chopped
      1/2 cup green peppers
      1/2 cup small leg of dead child (hit by Bentley) - chopped fine
      1/4 teaspoon black pube hair
      Red pepper to taste
      2 tablespoons Louisiana hot sauce


      garnish with ***** cheese!
    • GirthAgain, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Actually, denkc I got it from foodtv.com It seems that somebody else swiped it as well.
    • jono10, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1First you put in the oven for 9 months,stew with ambionic fluid and let stand for a month. Enjoy.
    • CoreOverride, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Don't forget 2 squirts of spice weasel!
  • SteveCUBE, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3I was drinking water while reading the description, I almost puked.

    Anyways... it's her ***** placenta let her have it.
  • Conwaysb0718, on 10/12/2007, -1/+28Placenta, it's what's for dinner.
    • englishganxta, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Son - "Mum, what's for dinner?"
      Mum - "Placenta honey!"
      Son - "Sweet! My favourite!"

      Thats gross :P
  • Kronos6948, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Who does she think she is? David Carradine?
  • diggan8, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5$10 says she can't get the first bite down without throwing up.

    Sounds like something on Fear Factor.


  • tizz66, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Am I crazy or was there a South Park episode about someone eating their placenta?
    • englishganxta, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5No, it was about eating a fetal baby for stem cell research and muscular growth.

      A good episode but it was disguisting, lol.
    • emt1451, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Shelly, where's the clitoris?

      Not the same. Still funny.
  • meanteen, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5ok first of all, GROSS !!! second, why would she want it?? to eat it? jesus Christ lady just take a protine shake...
    • TheCasablancan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3PLACENTA SHAKE!

      *Laughs, vomits, and Laughs some more*
    • smackhero, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4well, it's cheaper than buying supplements since it's already there and known to be very helpful in helping a woman recover after a birth. secondly, a lot of cultures and communities do this as a bonding ritual and to celebrate the birth of the newborn. we're culturally conditioned to be repulsed by the eating of human flesh, but within our own mainstream culture there are a lot of practices with far more questionable reasoning behind them, and we're just socialized to accept them as the norm.
  • willistg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+18You know, not that I wanted it, but when my wife gave birth, those son's a bitches didn't even ask us. They just took it. *****
  • Gazpacho, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I am afraid to ask how it is contaminated.
    • scosol, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1you... haven't ever seen an actual childbirth have you...
      loss of bowel control is fairly routine :)
    • sams2100, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4wow, you just had to take it to a whole new level, didn't you?
  • swordphish, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I'm curious, how would she go about eating it? Cook it first? Or just eat it raw? Perhaps blend it into a smoothy? Slice it up and make sandwiches?
    • englishganxta, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8How about we don't worry about that, eh?
    • jandeloo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I've read about women making it into a powder and ingesting it in pill form, which isn't AS bad.
    • smackhero, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2you can find a lot of recipes on the internet on how to cook human placenta. i don't think anyone would eat it raw. i imagine it probably doesn't taste all that bad if cooked right. its just hard to get over the idea of eating human placenta due to socialization and cultural taboo against eating human flesh.
  • Stiffler, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2mmmmm placenta sandwiches

    http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/10/17
  • biggrz, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3Placenta, the other white me. ... aw I just can't

    /barf
  • st1nkf1nger, on 10/12/2007, -10/+1Geez Lady..

    Will someone buy this lady a Big Mac if she needs "nutrients" so badly..

    It tastes a bit better and doesn't come from your crotch (usually)..
    • SteveCUBE, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13I'm sure placenta among other things are a lot more healthy with nutrients than a ***** big mac.
    • tizz66, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4It tastes a bit better and doesn't come from YOUR crotch

      ^ fixed
  • TheLoneWolf071, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1WTF?!?
  • emt1451, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2That is absolutely horrifying.
  • glucoseboy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4OK, they don't give it to her because "it's contaminated" (which probably means they threw it in a bin with all the other medical waste because that's they're standard practice) so, she sues.

    OK, they give it to her, she eats it, gets sick and sues. If you're the hospital, now what? They're screwed either way. Ever wonder why the doctors practice defensive medicine which jacks up the overall cost of health care?
    • smackhero, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3a lot of families take the placenta home with them after birth--it's not all that uncommon to ask for the placenta in the U.S. some communities eat the cooked placenta with the mother, others just hold onto it as a keepsake. my sociology professor had hers buried and planted a tree on top of it to commemorate the birth. i thought it was a really cool idea.

      the hospital should known not to throw it out or let it get contaminated. this could easily have been avoided, and most hospitals do agree to these requests regularly.
  • raabco, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2What can I say, some people just *love* placentas...

    http://www.pattiramos.com/Placenta.html
  • justinsimonin, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2goddamn hippies
  • hughestom1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3actually, most of the time the hospital retains ownership of the placenta and its a bureaucratic struggle to acquire it (because most people don't want it and the hospital disposes it). eating the placenta is a common practice in many cultures, and though westerners may not find a definite medical indication for eating it, if they feel it helps them psychologically, it should be alright.
    • archer104, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7I was shocked to learn that the Chinese have been eating placenta all along. They strike me as a very clean people who...who eat very nutritious things like fish and...don't.........where's my ***** cat?
  • benmarvin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6If Tom Green can keep his removed testicle....
  • hughestom1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1damn it i meant to edit that last post but it posted before i could. i was just going to say, if it is contaminated, particularly if the mother had something like hepatitis B or HIV, i strongly doubt they could give her the placenta. if it was the hospital's fault for contaminating it, she might have a just cause for legal action against the hospital.
  • wheresjim, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8I love the celebrity placenta recipes.

    My sister in law gave birth on her home with a midwife, and after all of the excitement was over, my brother got to bury the placenta in the back yard. 9 years later, I visit to find my nephew digging up the back yard in the hopes of finding his placenta. I don't know why I shared that, but I thought is was funny. (he never found it)
    • StandardsDT, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Well obviously he didn't since it most likely decayed into the ground. But interesting story indeed.
  • redknight79, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2It the placenta is contaminated, it should be treated as a biohazard and destroyed safely. Hostpitals must upkeep the public health
  • raiderj, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4My mom is a midwife, and I've heard of several people wanting to have "placenta tea" or to bury it and plant a tree over it. All very gross.

    In my mind, anything that comes out of your body that isn't alive (i.e. baby), is excrement, and should be disposed of accordingly.
    • laserblazer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Placenta tea? There goes lunch.
    • cvrefugee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Wouldn't you call placenta tea just placentea?
  • LavaHot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2... So why would the hospital refuse to give her the placenta, despite the fact that eating biological waste is disgusting? I mean, unless she signed something that said that any discarded biological sample belongs to the hospital, which I suppose many hospitals might make you sign as a patient as standard procedure. In which case, she doesn't really have a right to it as she signed that right away.
    • smackhero, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2if it's contaminated, perhaps has come into contact with some other person's blood, then it's not safe to eat as it could transmit a blood-borne disease.
  • SIDSI, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3This is kind of like when I had my wisdom teeth pulled. I was gonna make a cool necklace out of them but the dentist would'nt let me have em. I was pissed I grew those ***** for 22 years.
  • laserblazer, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2A lukewarm placenta sandwich served in a dirty ashtray smothered in McGriddle grease and liposuction juice. Mmmm MMMM now that's eatin'.
  • Aeneas88, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0I'll tell you this: the best thing about the placenta is the cold placenta sandwiches the next day.
    http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/10/17
    Edit: Stiffler beat me to it
  • tont0r, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0mmmmmmmmmm placghetti.
  • DCMacHead, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Where's Tom Cruise when you need him?
  • centerblack, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3The Hospital is just covering their ass. They say it's contaminated, by forcing her to go to court to request it, no one can say 'You didn't tell us it was contaminated" when they die from eating their apparently contaminated organ. The lady claims that she doesn't even want to eat it, because it's contaminated.

    Weird *****.
  • leetdood, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Dugg down for idiotic person.

    Now, I'll go and hurl.
  • meanteen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Taste Like Chicken!
  • AsylumAleikum, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Anne Swanson eats placenta and votes for Democrats.
  • IamZed, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1With, or without the onions?

    http://www.marksverylarge.com/people/tandb7308.html
  • ICANSTANDIT, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1It wasn't so much that I missed my tonsils, nor my appendix. Nor the teeth that were pulled over the years and never mind all the hair cuts I have had. Modern science tells me that my house is inundated with my dead skin cells floating around for me to breathe in...

    It was that other part? The one they cut off and never let me even see?

    I'm about to get banned here but I have to say it, regardless.

    Taste that? If you like it I'll give you a whole one?

    Oh, my! I tried.
    • shutupanddie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3What are you on about? Are you talking about your umbilical cord, or your foreskin?
  • bashpk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2God Im glad i didnt become a doctor
  • TinFoil209, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2You guys are all talking about the placenta main course. When is dessert? Well there is blood pie. What about placenta pie? mmm yum yum. With a side of umbilical cord rolled over to get the "whip cream" for the placenta pie.

    I have to put this too: *In the voice of Homer* "Mmmmm. Placenta. Mmmmmm."
  • vampiregabe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I just barfed in my mouth.
  • Nudar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I've seen many placentas in my day and I still have trouble not vomiting from the site and smell of them. I'd almost rather eat poop.
  • Manguskahn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Aw hell no! 0_o
    Freakin gross.
  • theehman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I don't see why someone shouldn't be able to have any part of their body that's removed. I had to ask for my tooth at the dentist because my daughter wanted to see it. They acted like it was some sort of crime. If I had something removed at the hospital, I want the right to take it home with me to dispose of myself or to keep in a jar in the fridge.
  • c19h28o2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5This may be uncommon, but is by no means rare. At my hospital we have standard protocol for returning bodyparts, usually gallstones or appendices or amputated limbs. Some are for the sake of curiosity, but often a person's religion requires that the body be interred intact and people will keep their amputated legs in the freezer for years until they die and will be buried or cremated with them.

    Placentas are a different story, as they are the only part that is regularly consumed. If we are to release a placenta for consumption, we must know this BEFORE we received the organ, because they routinely are immediately placed in formalin. Formalin is an aqueous solution of formaldehyde and renders them unfit for consumption and actually quite toxic. If hers' were kept fresh and refrigerated or frozen it would be ok to eat for a while. It would be fine for her to eat, regardless of what virus she may or may not have and most likely would pose no harm to anyone else if cooked properly. If she had chorioamnionitis or other bacterial infection, however, it would definitely be unsafe to eat and quite rancid, really. Unless the placenta was infected with a highly infective pathogen, like Ebola (highly unlikely), the hospital would face very little liability in releasing it to her with the proper consent and release forms.
    • TinFoil209, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Release forms? Let me get the EZ-Placenta and W-Eat Blood Bag forms for you.
  • dustymuffin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"When you first encounter the meat, remember to pause--placenta can be sacred food, if you let the meat tell you how to prepare it for the fire.... Chew slowly, till the placenta becomes a liquid, ambrosia. Placenta is a rare privilege for most of us." from Hygieia: A Woman's Herbal by Jeannine Parvati

    Really kinda gives you something to think about, eh?
  • Cheeseness, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Surely it'd be a bit out of date by now.
  • NightOwl4, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Pass the ketchup please
  •  

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