Authors

Abigail Norris

An Inevitable Conflict: The Subordination of Contract Principles to Informed Consent in the Business of Banking Umbilical Cord Blood

Abstract

This Note explores the business of banking umbilical cord blood for later, and potentially life-saving, use. It discusses the importance of the stem cells found in umbilical cord blood, and the complexities involved in applying business models to its collection, storage, and use. Furthermore, this Note discusses how contracts governing the storage and use of umbilical cord blood can conflict with concepts of human dignity and informed consent. It concludes that in the event umbilical cord blood banking contracts conflict with informed consent, the contract should be subordinated to a person’s understanding, acquired through procedures intended to achieve the patient, or parent’s, informed consent.

Repository Citation

Abigail Norris, An Inevitable Conflict: The Subordination of Contract Principles to Informed Consent in the Business of Banking Umbilical Cord Blood, 5 Wm. & Mary Bus. L. Rev. 621 (2014), https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmblr/vol5/iss2/7