Mother-to-be locked in battle with Hong Kong hospital over right to keep placenta

A heavily pregnant American woman living in Hong Kong is entangled in a bureaucratic battle with a public hospital over the fate of her placenta.

Melissa Grenham, who is 39 weeks pregnant with her second child, expects to give birth at Queen Mary Hospital in Pok Fu Lam in the next few days.

She wants to convert her placenta - the organ that delivers nutrients to the fetus - into capsules for consumption, a practice known as placenta encapsulation. But hospital bosses have said no and insisted it would be incinerated as "medical waste".

While there is little scientific research on placentophagy - ingestion of the afterbirth - the practice is increasingly popular with new mothers, who claim it wards off postnatal depression, boosts milk production and helps recovery after birth.

The placenta has religious significance in some cultures and is used in traditional Chinese medicine. But few Hong Kong doctors and wellness experts would discuss placentophagy.

Grenham told the hospital in June that she wished to keep her placenta. But her request has become a hot potato, pushed from one department to another.