Parents urged to sue hospitals over cord blood

Written by Lloyd Mudiwa Monday, 01 June 2009 00:00

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A stem cell biologist has urged parents refused the right to harvest their babies’ umbilical cord blood for storage as “biologic insurance” to sue the hospitals concerned should their offspring later develop diseases such as cerebral palsy, stroke, and type 1 diabetes, which he claimed can be treated with stem cell therapy.

Prof Colin McGuckin, the President of Novussanguis, an international research consortium on cord blood and adult stem cell research, was speaking following a recent second meeting with Department of Health officials in which he said no clear commitment to setting up a public cord blood biobank was made.

The Department told IMN: “The meeting provided a useful opportunity for the Department to keep developments in this area under review. The Department has no plans to develop a cord blood bank at this time.”

Criticising some hospitals for allegedly barring the harvesting of cord blood during birth, Prof McGuckin said the HSE has not banned harvesting.

Fine Gael Deputy Alan Shatter said the policy should be addressed by the Department and HSE as a matter of public interest. He claimed the HSE is currently advising hospitals of the insurance implications although private collection firms had their own cover.

The Clinical Indemnity Sche­me in September 2008 announced it would not cover health practitioners for the collection of cord blood for banking by a commercial organisation.

Citing the US where hospitals are obliged to advise parents of the option of harvesting cord blood, Deputy Shatter, who is a solicitor, warned there could be a legal liability if it arose in future that the HSE and public hospitals prevented patients from undergoing the process.

Fine Gael health spokesperson Dr James Reilly raised the issue in the Dáil last week.

The HSE, which directs harvesting in a few risk cases, is examining the undirected harvesting of cord blood at public hospitals to facilitate collection by private companies.

Ms Barbara Anders, Quality Manager, Medicare Health and Living Ltd, the only company in Ireland currently registered to provide private cord blood procurement services, stated that three hospitals prevented parents from harvesting cord blood between last July and March.

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