Hi, Renee: As I was reading thru your post, I found myself becoming more and more uncomfortable with the scenario that was starting to play out in my mind. I would be extremely careful about dispensing advice or doing a consult via e-mail or a chat room. As you say in your post, you have never met this person face-to-face. How do you even know that this is a legitimate person with a legitimate situation? I'm sure (hoping for your sake) this is legitimate, but you cannot be 100% sure. Moms from my support group at the hospital will occasionally contact me with an issue via e-mail. The group maintains an e-mail list, so it's easy to contact other members. I will very briefly address the concern and ask that she either call me on the phone, come to the office, or come to the next group meeting. I'm honest - I tell her upfront that I'm not comfortable giving her advice without either talking with her or seeing her in person. I also tell her that I want to give her the best service I can, which cannot be provided via e-mail or the internet. So far, moms seem to accept my thoughts on this. Also, too, think of the potential legal nightmare you would face if something were to happen because of the advice you gave, which, by the way, is in writing. Easy enough for a person to print out and save your advice and have as admissible evidence in court. You have asked for advice - I don't feel I can give you any. The information you have is too scanty for me to be able to form any professional opinion on how this situation should be handled. You've already done what I am most cofortable with - referral to someone in her area. Good luck with this situation. Pam Hirsch, RN,BSN,CLC Clinical Lead, Lactation Services Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital Barrington, IL USA *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html