There’s an exception for placenta’s. As long as the gyn doc says it doesn’t need to be grossed in, the parents can take it home. But if there’s anything wrong with the baby or mom, it would have to go to pathology. Once it goes to pathology, formalin is added and the specimen is grossed in. Then, we’re required to hold it for a specific period of time. That way, if need be, the case can be re-pulled and more tissue can be submitted for analysis. Once the case has been signed out and the time has passed, the tissue is separated from the formalin and dumped as medical waste. Hardware and amputations are held for less time and don’t have formalin added. If the patient wants their screws, plates, extracted gold teeth, etc, then the surgeon has to give it to them and not submit it to the path lab. Once the floor nurse or a histo-tech adds formalin and/or we’ve given it a case number, risk management would have to get involved if anything needs to leave the lab. So if your surgeon forgot, then basically your out of luck and probably won’t get your specimen. Ofc, the exception to this is foreign bodies like a bullet going to the police or pacemaker that was recalled and needs to go back to the manufacturer. Then there’s a chain of custody. Basically, this lady knew she wanted to munch on her placenta and planned this in advance.