Hello Samurai,
I haven't been able to come up with any references yet on the placenta block
storage issue. I asked my pathologist, and he said that it was requested at
one of the meetings with the OB/GYN docs. Suppose they read some OB/GYN
journal and got the idea? I'll keep digging.
 I also found out that they actually want us to store the blocks for 23
years.(Will they sue if the kid makes it through college, but doesn't get a
GOOD job?!!)-Shar (drowning in a sea of blue blocks)



----- Original Message -----
From: <RSRICHMOND@aol.com>
To: <HistoNet@pathology.swmed.edu>
Sent: Sunday, May 21, 2000 3:21 AM
Subject: Placenta block storage


> In a message dated 5/20/00, Sharon Tipton (Histochick) writes:
>
> << Recently the OB-GYN docs requested that we keep placenta blocks for
some
> 21 or so  years - from birth to adulthood - "just in case" We put these
> tissues in blue cassettes for easy identification. Is that politically
> correct?!!! (Please don't tell me I have to add pink to be fair!) - Shar
>>
>
> This is something I've been wondering about. The basic lawyer-type
thinking
> is here: if your kid flunks out of college, sue the obstetrician that
> delivered him - eighteen years, plus discovery. Then presumably the old
> slides - and perhaps the five-odd paraffin blocks - need to be resurrected
in
> the obstetrician's defense.
>
> Can you ask your OB-GYN's if they have references suggesting this
practice?
> I've rather thought that this request would eventually come up.
>
> In the present turmoil of American medicine, one thinks that rather few of
> our present pathology services will be around 20 years from now. I wonder
if
> the next request will be for centralized long-term archiving of placenta
> slides and blocks.
>
> Or maybe wet tissue in all its gory glory. The mind begins to boggle, in a
> nation with 5% of the world's population and 75% of its lawyers.
>
> Bob Richmond
> Samurai Pathologist
> Knoxville TN
>