So, this is pretty gross, but to each her own (placenta smoothie). ::shudders::
After extensive research, pregnant Jordan Thiering decided she wanted to take the afterbirth (placenta) and whip it up in a smoothie. When she talked to her OBGYN, she was told to check with the delivering hospital. The hospital told her she would need a court order.
“I grew my baby, I grew my placenta,” Thiering said. “There should be no one that can tell me what I can or can’t do with it.”
The Mississippi Department of Health told Thiering she was considered a “third party” to her placenta.
The Clarion Ledger reported:
“If I give birth to my baby and then I give birth to my placenta, do you own my baby, too? Do I have a third party to my own child? Well, of course not. So then why am I the third party to my own body part? It just doesn’t seem to make sense,” she said.According to a memo obtained by The Clarion-Ledger, state epidemiologist Dr. Thomas Dobbs defined the placenta as “medical waste.”The memo states, in part, “no hospital or other facility may release non-infectious medical waste (including placental tissue) without there first having been obtained by a court order, or other judicial mandate, which will assure proper disposal by the release.”Which contacted for comment, MSDH spokesperson Liz Sharlot said, “We are not a pivotal party in the lawsuit.”Confused and frustrated, Thiering turned to a Facebook group for moms asking for advice. She posted what she had been told and was contacted by attorney Jacqueline Hammack.Thiering nor Hammack, who specializes in women’s health issues, said they had ever heard of a woman having to obtain a court order to get her placenta.”I told her I would love to help her out, that this was a crazy thing she was experiencing,” Hammack said. “Placenta release was a new endeavor for me but I read the law, talked to her, got all the pertinent facts and I made a petition that I hoped would be sufficient and it was.”Thiering petitioned the Rankin County Chancery County on May 2, asking for the rights to her placenta. Judge John McLaurin granted the order on May 17.“It was pretty simple but totally unnecessary in my opinion to need any of that,” she said. “I don’t think it’s right for someone who has no experience to dictate what a woman can do with her body…he’s not a woman. He shouldn’t have a right to dictate what I can do with my body.”It’s your body part and no matter what women want to do with it, it’s their right to have it.”
Mississippi’s Department of Health is open to changing the policy so that a court order won’t be needed for other women seeking custody of their post-birth placenta.
Follow Kemberlee on Twitter @kemberleekaye
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