The state of Illinois actually has a law concerning this situation. Any miscarriage less than 20 weeks requires a state form be given to the mother asking if she would like the remains handled as a surgical specimen and thus disposed of as a surgical specimen or handled as a fetal death requiring funeral home burial or cremation at the parent's expense. This law rose from a situation in which a nurse miscarried and told hospital staff she wanted her baby released to the funeral home after pathology examination. The next week when the funeral home inquired of picking up the baby it couldn't be found and was discovered to have been discarded as hospital waste. There was a lawsuit and legislative involvement that led to this law. If the mother signs requesting the funeral home I can only touch the baby with a full autopsy authorization permit. Chuck
-----Original Message----- From: histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu [mailto:histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Robert Richmond Sent: Monday, January 05, 2009 12:41 PM To: histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu Subject: [Histonet] Re: fetal demise under 20 wks Jessica Vacca in Brandon FL asks: >>Are there any facilities that do not perform a gross and micro on a fetus less than 20 wks, if mom wishes to bury it? Do you have a policy that states this and are you willing to share? Does mom sign a form stating that she does not wish for pathology to be done?<< In a situation like this, the placenta needs to be examined both grossly and microscopically, but the fetus generally does not. Most pathology labs are not equipped to do an autopsy on a fetus this size, and most pathologists (definitely including me) are not trained to do this kind of autopsy. Most of the services I've worked on do not routinely dissect the fetus. Certainly, before I'd undertake any such autopsy, I'd want to make sure that a funeral wasn't planned. Believe or not, open casket funerals for fetuses are not unusual. By the way, if you do dispose of a fetus, do so with great care, and make sure that all identification is removed from it before final disposal. Anti-abortion crazies have sometimes used this information to harass the bereaved mother, as if she'd had the pregnancy aborted. (This isn't an urban legend - I can supply a reference.) Bob Richmond Samurai Pathologist Knoxville TN _______________________________________________ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet _______________________________________________ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet