Here at Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City, UT (Does
not maintain a religious affiliation although was set up originally by
the LDS church and later sold to a non-profit hospital group) the
parents are given the option of disposition <20 weeks and >20 weeks. As
a children's hospital we do not have a labor and delivery department so
all the cases we see are referral autopsies from outside institutions.
Disposition is only performed by funeral homes. We are contracted with a
local funeral home for cremation of those cases without disposition
instructions or for those parents that elect for hospital disposition.
The parents may request the ashes from the funeral home. It is our
policy to not extend any charges to the patient/families for any
postmortem work (this type of disposition becomes part of the autopsy
service and is paid by the institution). Remains are handled
individually and are not placed with any other tissues. The requirements
of the cases that are >20 weeks are dictated by state law (so is the
transportation of the remains anywhere from a referring institution).
Please send all responses to the Histonet as we are also interested in
this topic.

Lance Erickson
Anatomic Pathology Supervisor
PCMC
  

>>>  08/23/05 10:39 AM >>>
Histonetters,

We are evaluating our current practices for fetus disposal at our
facility 
and would like to know how both Catholic and non-Catholic hospitals
handle 
fetus disposition at their facilities. I am interested in practices for

both fetal loss greater than 20 weeks gestation  AND less than 20 weeks

gestation (products of conception). 

Please include religious affiliation, if any, of your institution.

1.      Are parents given the option to have the hospital handle the 
disposition for the remains at < 20 wks, >20 weeks, or both? 

2.      If parents opt for hospital disposition, is it handled on-site,
or 
contracted by the hospital off-site (with a funeral home)?  If
off-site, 
is the patient charged for disposition?

3.      Method of disposition? Cremation? Burial? Other?

4.      Are remains collected/disposed of separately, or co-mingled
with 
other tissues?

5.      Is disposal method dictated by State Law? Please include
state.

Any additional information you can give me about your practices would
be 
helpful. 

Thank you in advance for your help.

Cindy
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