שמירת דם טבורי ועוד

Dear Rav Halperin Shlita

Wishing you well. Could you kindly answer this question or see that I get an answer if possible this week.

1) A woman who is due to have a baby wants the doctors to take stem cells from her umbilical, to freeze in case of need. Is this permitted or advisable. I saw the article in Assis Sept 2004. There the prohibition comes from taking from an embryo which could be considered the beginning of fetal human development.

2) A second question is, what are the monetary obligations of a family to keep a relative alive, which will ultimately exhaust their resources.

Chag Sameach