Brooklyn, NY, Sept. 10, 2025 – Maimonides Health has established New York City’s first hospital-based Placenta Donation Program, offering patients at the Stella and Joseph Payson Birthing Center the option to donate their placenta to be used in medical therapies.
Placenta donation is a form of organ donation with a range of innovative medical applications. Most commonly, placenta tissue, specifically the amniotic membrane, is used for skin grafts to treat chronic wounds and serious burns. It can also be used in sight-saving ophthalmologic therapies, orthopedic procedures like nerve wrap and ligament repair,reconstructive surgeries like breast reconstruction and hernia repairs, or in gum grafts during dental operations.
Donation carries no risk to the patient or newborn, does not impact the delivery process, is completely free, and saves the placenta from being discarded as medical waste. Medical records and information related to the donation are confidential. Donation is completely optional, and only occurs with the direct consent of each patient.
Maimonides is the first hospital in New York City to establish a hospital-based placental donation program. As Brooklyn’s largest healthcare system and a New York State designated Regional Perinatal Center, approximately 5,500 babies are delivered at Maimonides annually, making it one of the busiest labor and delivery programs in New York State.
“We are thrilled to be the first hospital in the five boroughs to be offer patients the opportunity for hospital-based placenta donation,” said Scott Chudnoff, MD, Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Maimonides Health.
“This gives all patients who give birth at Maimonides the opportunity to make the delivery process all the more special by contributing to lifesaving medical applications, and helping others overcome serious illnesses, pain, and loss of function of essential body parts like the limbs and eyes,” said Kavitha Ram, MD, Associate Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Maimonides. “We are proud to ensure that families have simplified access to reputable birth tissue donation avenues, to make their generous donations as easy, safe, and secure as possible.”
About Maimonides Health
Maimonides Health is Brooklyn’s largest healthcare system, serving over 320,000 patients each year through the system’s three hospitals, 1,800+ physicians, and more than 80 community-based practices and outpatient centers. Our system is anchored by Maimonides Medical Center, one of the nation’s largest independent teaching hospitals and home to centers of excellence in numerous specialties; Maimonides Midwood Community Hospital (formerly New York Community Hospital), a 130-bed adult medical–surgical hospital; and Maimonides Children’s Hospital, Brooklyn’s only children’s hospital and only pediatric trauma center.
Maimonides’ clinical programs rank among the best in the country for patient outcomes, including our Heart and Vascular Institute, Neurosciences Institute, Bone and Joint Center, and Cancer Center. For additional information, please visit www.maimo.org and follow us on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok.