Giving to receive? The right to donate in umbilical cord blood banking for stem cell therapies.
OBJECTIVE
To explore the views of lay and professional stakeholders about the donation of cord blood to public banks in England and the policies surrounding it.


METHODS
Qualitative in-depth interviews were undertaken between April 2009 and August 2010 with 62 participants based in England who play a key role in cord blood banking and therapy. All interviews were recorded, transcribed in full, and coded and analysed thematically.


RESULTS
Participants claimed pregnant women had a right to know of the value of cord blood. This highlighted the flaws of the existing donation infrastructure, which was portrayed as playing a significant role in determining public health. Participants called for a right to donate cord blood to readdress the inequity in healthcare services for pregnant women and transplant recipients. Donors maintained a sense of right over their donation when they discussed cord blood donation as potentially benefiting their family as well as society.


CONCLUSIONS
In order to keep receiving donated body parts, tissue and blood, there is a need to take into account the way in which donation operates within a prevalent 'rights' discourse.
Division of Medicine, School of Health and Medicine, Lancaster University, Lancaster, United Kingdom. l.machin@lancaster.ac.uk
Laura L
LL
Machin
Nik
N
Brown
Danae
D
McLeod
D001782:Blood Donors; D004739:England; D005260:Female; D005312:Fetal Blood; D006806:Human Rights; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation