Parents may Unreasonably be Paying Umbilical Cord Banks for allegedly Faulty Promises
Shub & Johns LLC launches investigation into private umbilical cord blood banks, such as Cord Blood Registry, ViaCord, Cryo-Cell and potentially others, who offer storage of newborn umbilical cords for families in the hopes of creating cures for at risk individuals.
Cord blood storage has become an industry practice over the last 30 years, with these private blood banks promoting their services to both doctors and parents. It was once promised that the stem cells in umbilical cords could become a tailor-made cure that heals the child’s body from cancer, diabetes, or other diseases and disorders. However, parents are discovering that they may be paying hundreds or thousands of dollars in storage fees for nothing.
Recent reports and investigations discovered that companies such as Cord Blood Registry (or CBR), ViaCord, and Cryo-Cell, are charging consumers to store their children’s umbilical cords with the hope that one day the stem cells in the umbilical cord can be used to cure a child’s ailing body. However, in some cases, within weeks of receiving the stem cell sample in the umbilical cord, the blood banks discover that the umbilical cord has been contaminated or does not contain enough stem cells for future use. Some reports indicate that though some samples provided to the banks are contaminated or do not contain sufficient cells for future use or research, the companies continue to charge families for their storage service and may not be notifying families that the cord samples are tainted and unusable.
Consumers may be paying thousands over the course of a lifetime in order to store these umbilical cords under the impression that it can save their child’s life one day, but companies like CBR may be storing a potentially contaminated sample for years in order to continue to receive payment from its clients without any notification that the sample – and along with it, the hope of a healthy future – is no longer viable.
Did you store your child’s umbilical cord with a private cord blood bank and paying hundreds on storage? Are you concerned that the umbilical cord you are paying to keep stored has been contaminated or otherwise invalid? Let us know! Fill out the attached form and join the Shub & Johns investigation today!