How do You Counsel Patients on Cord Blood Banking?

Though cord blood banking still makes news--in the past month, businessman and owner of the Dallas Mavericks has encouraged parents to utilize private cord blood banks, a cord blood bank in California settled with the FTC on a data breach, and public banks are making appeals for donors-studies have shown that women have a poor understanding of the current therapeutic uses of cord blood^1,2.  Obstetricians don't fare much better, with 49% saying they don't have sufficient knowledge to answer patients' questions about donation³.

Twenty four states have statutes mandating or encouraging the dissemination of information on cord blood banking to patients, and a 2008 ACOG Committee Opinion states that, if requested, patients should receive “balanced and accurate information regarding the advantages and disadvantages of public versus private umbilical cord blood banking;” and that health care professionals who recruit for for-profit blood banks should disclose their financial interests⁴.
 

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If you do discuss it with patients, do you recommend either public or private cord blood banking? In what circumstances?

References:

1. Donating umbilical cord blood to a public bank or storing it in a private bank: knowledge and preference of blood donors and of pregnant women. Blood Transfus. 2012 Jul;10(3):331-7.
2. Fox NS, Stevens C, Ciubotariu R, et al. Umbilical cord blood collection: do patients really understand? J Perinat Med. 2007;35(4):314-21.
3. Walker T, Steckler D, Spellman S, et al. Awareness and acceptance of public cord blood banking among obstetricians in the United States. Transfusion. 2012 Apr;52(4):787-93.
4. Umbilical Cord Blood Banking. ACOG Committee Opinion No. 399. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Obstet Gynecol 2008;111:475–7.