Cord blood banking: regulations, ethics and practice in a disputed Italian case

Current Italian regulations allow the free storage in public biobanks within the Italian National Health Service (SSN) of voluntarily donated cord blood, which can then be made available for transplantation in Italian and foreign patients. The same regulations allow the free storage of cord blood for directed use (in other words, for all cases in which it can be used for a family member suffering from a disease that can be cured through the use of hematopoietic stem cells) and in cases where a family runs a high risk of genetic disorders. This article briefly describes and discusses an episode involving an Italian hospital: an appeal by a woman led to a court provision imposing the collection and storage of a cord blood unit outside the conditions established by law. The provision aroused controversy and led to a series of inappropriate actions.