Parents hit out at Canterbury Hospital after losing placenta

A Sydney couple who desperately wanted to keep the placenta from the birth of their first child, only to be told it had been “discarded”, have taken aim at the State government for “under-resourcing” their local hospital.

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EXCLUSIVE: A couple has been left devastated after they asked six times to keep the placenta from the birth of their daughter — only for the hospital to throw it away.

Dennis Markou and his wife, who requested her first name be withheld, said they blame the state government for leaving Canterbury Hospital “under-resourced”.

The Belmore couple had spent a difficult three years trying to conceive and even planted the seeds of a “blessed” apple tree, which family members had brought back from a Greek monastery on the Central Coast, in the hope it would help realise their dream of starting a family.

Mrs Markou became pregnant not long after the seeds germinated, so the couple decided to bury the placenta beneath the tree as a gesture of thanks to Saint Irene, a Greek religious figure celebrated for assisting fertility.

But, after the birth of their daughter Georgina at Canterbury Hospital in May, the couple were told staff could not “locate” the placenta.

Dennis Markou, pictured with his wife and daughter, stressed to the hospital it was important to keep the placenta. Picture: Tim Hunter

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“It had been such an emotional rollercoaster for us to have a baby, it was important for us to keep the placenta so that we could place it under the tree and one day tell our daughter of her journey,” Mr Markou said.

“There were six requests made for the placenta to be kept, on the (birth) card, forms and us telling the midwives.

“It has just made me lose confidence in our hospital. They are clearly under-resourced.

“If they could not get this right, what else are they getting wrong?”

More parents are choosing to keep the placenta for a number of reasons, including turning them into pills.

Requests by parents to keep the placenta after a birth have grown in recent years.

Planting the placenta with a tree was a common reason for requesting to take it home but recent studies have shown a rise in mothers also eating the tissue.

A New York study called Human Placentophagy: A Review published last year found it was being eaten raw, cooked, roasted, dehydrated, encapsulated or through smoothies or tinctures.

NSW Health policy allows couples to obtain the placenta so long as the hospital agrees it does not pose a health risk, “such as spreading an infection”.

Mr Markou said hospital staff had told the couple they would need to come back to the hospital in two weeks to collect the placenta as it first needed to be tested to ensure it was disease-free.

The incident happened at Canterbury Hospital. Picture: Bill Hearne

But when they came back to collect it, they were told it was nowhere to be found.

In a letter sent to the Markous late last week, Canterbury Hospital Acting General Manager Kiel Harvey apologised for distress caused by the mishap, while revealing the placenta had been “discarded” after testing.

“Canterbury Hospital has a process in place in relation to parents taking home their placenta,” the letter said.

“In this instance, the correct procedure was not followed.”

Staff had subsequently undergone “education” on the correct procedures, he said.

State opposition health spokesman Ryan Park said the incident was a sign of overworked frontline staff.

“This is the inevitable result of this government’s drive to cut the staff that support frontline workers in hospitals,” he said. “Of course patients end up falling through the cracks.”