Dear Friends:
    I am working as a mother/baby nurse with a woman  whose baby was in NICU. 
She wanted to breastfeed at our first visit, and  was pumping and spending as 
much time as possible in the  NICU.  She has hypertension that appeared at 
the end of the pregnancy,  and led to the cesarean section. 
    My second visit was a few days ago, to see her and  the baby. She has 
abandoned breastfeeding because of too much stress and her  blood pressure. In 
her case, I can understand why.
    She has seen many different doctors during this  past month; because she 
is poor, she goes to a clinic. Her primary doctor told  her that he wasn't 
going to increase her medicine, because the kind of blood  pressure she has will 
go away at 6 weeks postpartum!
    Can you believe this? So she's supposed to walk  around for the next 
month with 160/110??? Sure, her hypertension might resolve  at 6 weeks; she could 
be dead then too! That is one way to make  blood pressure better.
    Another doctor at the next visit told her to stop  taking the medication; 
because it wasn't working. He didn't prescribe  anything either.  When I made 
the home visit, and her pressure was 160/100,  I called the doctor on call. 
This doctor told me that the patient was  "non-compliant" because she had 
stopped taking her medicine; he didn't know, or  didn't have the chart, to realize 
that the doctor before him had told her to do  that. 
    Meanwhile this poor woman now has headaches, and is  very reluctant to 
rush back to the hospital for care because the attention and  care she receives 
is so confusing, rude and disconnected.
    She and her husband are as poor as church mice,  have only just gotten a 
bed (that someone gave them), have only 3 chairs. Her  tiny apartment is 
spotless. She has followed every direction given to her all  along the way. She 
will go to the clinic today, after resting all weekend.
    This is the state of common, ordinary health care  in the US. 
    Heaven help us.
    warmly,
Nikki Lee RN, MS, Mother of 2, IBCLC, CCE
Maternal-Child Adjunct  Faculty Union Institute and University
Film Reviews Editor, Journal of Human  Lactation
Support the WHO Code and the Mother-Friendly Childbirth  Initiative

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