Commentaire sur Nida 3:4
הַמַּפֶּלֶת סַנְדָּל אוֹ שִׁלְיָא, תֵּשֵׁב לְזָכָר וְלִנְקֵבָה. שִׁלְיָא בַּבַּיִת, הַבַּיִת טָמֵא. לֹא שֶׁהַשִּׁלְיָא וָלָד, אֶלָּא שֶׁאֵין שִׁלְיָא בְלֹא וָלָד. רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן אוֹמֵר, נִמּוֹק הַוָּלָד עַד שֶׁלֹּא יָצָא:
Si elle fait une fausse couche avec une sandale [c'est-à-dire un morceau de chair sans visage, de forme similaire à une sandale] ou un placenta, elle doit rester assise pendant [le nombre de jours d'impureté et de pureté requis pour celui qui donne naissance à] un homme et pour [celui qui donne naissance à] une femme. Si un placenta est dans une maison, la maison est impure [comme de l'imprutabilité d'un cadavre]; non pas parce qu'un placenta est un fœtus, mais parce qu'il ne peut y avoir de placenta sans fœtus. Le rabbin Shimon dit: le fœtus [qui était dans le placenta] s'est dissous [dans le sang et a été annulé] avant de sortir [et donc la maison n'est pas impure].
Bartenura on Mishnah Niddah
English Explanation of Mishnah Niddah
If a placenta is in a house, the house is unclean, not because a placenta is a fetus but because generally there can be no placenta without a fetus.
Rabbi Shimon says: the child might have been mashed before it came out.
Section one: A "sandal" is a fetus whose face has not yet been formed. This counts as a human miscarriage and if the sex cannot be determined, then she must observe the impurity rituals for having both a male and a female (see mishnah two).
While a placenta is not a fetus, it is a sign that there was a fetus. Therefore, since we can't determine the sex of the fetus, she must act as if she had both a boy and a girl.
Section two: If a placenta is found in a house, we can assume that a dead fetus was in the house as well. This makes the house into an "ohel" (a tent) which conveys impurity to all of the contents of the house. (We learned plenty about this in Tractate Ohalot).
Rabbi Shimon notes that the presence of a placenta is not a certain sign that she gave birth to a fetus. It is possible that the fetus could have been dissolved or mashed up (I realize that this is not pleasant) before it came out of the woman. In such a case, the fetus does not have the status of a dead body and doesn't defile as does a dead body. The house and its contents will remain pure.