Hi Everyone,

We've encountered some problems at our hospital and I was just curious if
it's happened to anyone else, and, if so, what you've done about it.

The situation is:  After the "Formula for Disaster" story aired on FOX
news, many of our parents expressed concern about giving their infants
Similac Advance.  As we were automatically switched from Similac with Iron
and had done enough research to be concerned about our liability if a baby
develops problems from the new additives, we decided to switch back to
Similac with Iron.

Here's where the fun begins.  We are working on becoming baby friendly and
have been purchasing our formula for about a year.  When our purchasing
department tried to order the regular stuff, they were told that product no
longer existed.  Upon further investigation, we learned that Ross had
changed the product numbers.  We got the new number and tried again.
Yesterday our purchasing manager called to tell us that she received a
message from Ross Corporate Office stating that this product is no longer
available for hospitals.  They went on to say it is possible for us to
purchase it, but instead of the $7.00 per case we're paying for the Advance
(and were paying for the regular before we were switched over), it was
going to cost us $91.00 (yes $91.00) per case!  She checked to be sure it
wasn't a typo.

So, with the support of our nursery physician and supervisor, I asked the
purchasing department to solicit a quote from Mead Johnson for just plain
Enfamil and also to see if Nestle-Carnation makes a product for hospital
use.  She was going to contact the Ross Sales person for our area and tell
him to fix the situation or we would switch to another brand.

I spoke with Marsha Walker who also suggested that we complain to the FDA,
Better Business Bureau and State Health Department.  I feel as if we are
between a rock and a hard place.  If Enfamil is doing the same thing, we're
going to be forced to buy a product we don't want and aren't comfortable
with.

Is this going on anywhere else?  Any ideas??

Thanks!

Barb Fibich, RN, CLC
Froedtert Hospital
Milwaukee, WI

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