What do you give the mother who has everything?
How about a placenta.
A Manhattan couple has joined the growing ranks of parents who want to extend the usefulness of one of pregnancy’s most unique byproducts.
Alexander and Amanda Morcos are seeking a court order to keep the placenta from the birth of their first child, due any day.
New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center requires such legal action because a placenta — the internal organ that envelops a fetus in the womb and connects it to a mother’s blood supply, providing nutrients — is usually considered medical waste and discarded.
But they’ve become the latest must-have for New York parents.
Researchers can derive 10 times more stem cells by processing a placenta than by simply taking blood from the umbilical cord alone, says Ralph Fariello, director of the Cedar Knolls, NJ-based LifebankUSA.
Stem cells are crucial, researchers say, because they are considered precursor cells that have the potential to become any type of cell in the body and are considered potent weapons in fighting a long list of diseases, including cancer and Parkinson’s disease.
LifebankUSA is the only firm in the nation that extracts stem cells from the placenta. It charges $1,400 for cryogenically preserving the stem cells.
Since 2006, the number of clients banking placental stem cells has increased by almost 50 percent, Fariello said.