Medicare spending on "skin substitutes" made of dried placenta has soared as doctors pocket lucrative discounts

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3. Families have various options for what to do with it. I wonder if they are given these choices by the hospital.

These options include keeping it for personal reasons or donating it for research or medical use. Some indigenous groups bury the placenta, sometimes with specific rituals or in auspicious locations, believing it protects the child or connects them to the land. Perhaps the use as "bandage" is a research choice.