Hospitals ban staff from storing stem cells

THE three public maternity hospitals in Dublin have formally signed off on an agreement preventing staff from helping parents store stem cells from babies after birth.

The policy, followed informally at the Rotunda, the National Maternity Hospital and Coombe Hospital up to now, means parents wishing to store stem cells for possible future use in tackling diseases such as leukaemia must conduct the procedure themselves, or get an independent midwife to help them.

A total of 54 families have had stem cells taken from the birth of their child and sent to labs abroad for storage in the past four years.