A miscarriage is always a tragedy and our hearts will go out to those involved. However, it is an inevitable consequence that miscarriage results in a disposal requirement that may be entirely practical, or perhaps some more emotional and/or religious dimension according to the wishes of the mother.
It is saddening to read a report from one who suffered a fourth miscarriage, recounting:
“It was all so awful and painful,” she says. “The baby was delivered and put in a clinical waste bin at the end of the bed. I was given a form asking me how I wanted to ‘dispose’ of the body.” Inevitably, and from each successful pregnancy a placenta will be expelled for disposal.
Many disposable companies provide a specific container for placenta disposal, and alternatively rigid bins provide suitable containment, but in general a bag is prone to seepage. Even the heaviest grade of bag is not leakproof since the bag closure is not leakproof and when bags are compressed or upended some seepage is inevitable.
Those who are required to handle these wastes must be aware of the possible content, and have a relatively strong stomach and lack of emotion – on occasions they must expect to see some ‘disturbing’ items within waste containers.
It’s a sad event, put points squarely to the need for better waste containers and closures. Rigid bins are generally unwelcome due to their bulk and many wastes that might be better disposed into one of those find their way instead into a sack.
Some time ago, I was approached by a manufacturer to consider his prototype hermetic sealing device for waste sacks. It seemed like a good idea but trapped air in the bag, was not a particularly strong seal and had only a single thermal weld, are left sealed backs a little like partially deflated balloons that were difficult to handle.
A device providing a brad weld, or perhaps a double weld line, that additionally cuts a hand hold in the upper section of bag (above the weld), would facilitate safe closure and ease of handling. The packaging industry has been particularly successful over the years with many innovations that we now consider the norm. That innovation might be brought to bear on the waste industries also, to improve on the simple plastic sack and its wholly unsatisfactory closure.
Remember, you heard it first on the Clinical Waste Discussion Forum.