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Umbilical cord

ukexpat
Jul 11, 2014
5
Question

Dear xpats,

Can someone please clarify the law in Belgium re keeping the newborn's umbilical cord and regulation of stem cell research in Belgium?

Many thanks for any advice.

anon

As far as I remember, they don't keep the actual umbilical cord, they keep a sample of blood taken from the umbilical cord.

But my last child was 15 years ago, so things may have changed since then.

No idea what the law is, but I had it taken for each child and gave my consent (can't remember the exact wording) for it to be used (if it was ever needed) as a source of stem cells for my children, or anyone else who needed it, or for any other life saving medical research.

I genuinely hope it gets used and saves lives.

Jul 11, 2014 17:34
ukexpat

Thank you very much for your helpful reply. Would you know what happens with the blood that is taken from the umbilical cord? I mean who stores it and in which bank?

Jul 11, 2014 22:13
mik123

You have to arrange the service in advance, i.e. before the birth. It's quite expensive, but of course it can save life in the future. In Belgium is situated one of the largest cryo banks in Europe.

Check this website, for example: http://cryo-save.com/en/home.
I don't recommend it, it's just the first site from google.

Jul 12, 2014 11:12
anon

We didn't have to "arrange" anything. The gyno just asked if we wanted to participate, and we obviously said yes. This was at Edith Cavell with the same gyno for all three kids. Didn't pay anything either. There are "paying" services where you reserve it for yourself / family, but we didn't do that, and I don't even think it was offered (or existed) at the time. I think it was held by the hospital, or a university or something.

Jul 12, 2014 12:21
ukexpat

Thank you for your replies.
In my case when my baby was born, the gyno attempted to take blood out from the umbilical cord. I could see the syringe was 3/4th full. He turned to me and said that there is not enough blood in the umbilical cord to be put away for stem cell research. At the time I didn't think about what happens to the blood sample that was taken or if whether it is stored away somewhere but I am curious to know now.

I tried contacting the doctor but he's off on holiday till the end of August. Kindly advice.

Jul 15, 2014 16:08