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Judge Susan Johnson of the Clark County District Court ordered Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center to return Anne Swanson's placenta (uterine lining).

Anne Swanson initially wanted to give her placenta to a friend "to be dried, ground into a powder, and packed into capsules", which is believed to fight postpartum depression.

Hospital officials at the Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in Nevada refused to give Swanson her placenta after she gave birth through Ceasarean Section on April 12, saying that it was "contaminated biohazardous waste".

Placentas are returned to mothers only when a mother requests for "specific cultural or religious reasons" otherwise the organ is usually destroyed.

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