It was a great list:
Subject:transfer to nursery? Handing Out Discharge BagsFrom:Liz Brooks 
<[log in to unmask]>Reply-To:Lactation Information and Discussion 
<[log in to unmask]>Date:Sun, 7 Oct 2007 20:11:47 -
0400Content-Type:text/plain
Kathy is fed up with her hospital's unwillingness to respect her declared desire 
to follow the intent of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk 
Substitutes, and not use discharge bags, cribs cards, measuring tapes etc. 
provided by the formula manufacturers.       Smile Smile Smile while you seek a 
meeting with the supervisor of the manager who has already pooh-poohed 
your declared desire. Bring with you: (1) IBLCE Code of Ethics (2)  ILCA 
Standards of Practice  (3)  Int'l Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes 
(4)  The appropriate scope of practice as an RN, etc.   (5)  Download from 
www.ilca.org the page listing all the links to all the medical professional 
associations and global health organizations that call upon their members to 
promote and protect breastfeeding as a public health imperative (6)  Download 
the Executive Summary of the recent AHRQ Report on Maternal and Infant 
Health Outcomes of Breastfeeding in Developed Countries (7)  Check out not 
only www.banthebags.org, but also www.nofreelunch.org.  The former deals 
with the pervasive and negative impact of formula marketing in hospitals; the 
latter discusses the pervasive and negative impact, generally, of 
pharmaceutical marketers in the health care arena. (8)  Next -- pay a visit to 
your hospital's website.  I am willing to bet the home page has a link to the 
mission or vision of your institution.  I am further willing to bet it proclaims that 
good health and optimal medical care/choices are the ideal ... the goal ... the 
very raison d'etre of your facility.  Start downloading. (9)  Check out your 
institution's vendor policies:  often it is a stated (and prohibited) conflict of 
interest for the hospital to have an "exclusive" contract with one manufacturer 
of goods or supplies.  Are the formula bags coming from one company?  
Probably! (10)  Check out the hospital's HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices.  If 
sales reps -- from any manufacturer or goods or supplies -- are freely roaming 
and stocking the shelves in patient areas, you have yourself a classic HIPAA 
violation (subjecting the hospital to civil and crminal liability). (11)  Then, 
rememembering you are to Smile Smile Smile, ask the supervisor's supervisior 
why it is that you are being required to hand out formula discharge bags 
when: *  Every professional association for health care providers has issued 
statements in support of BF;*  The AHRQ provides meta-analysis in evidentiary 
support of the notion that the public health benefits, population-wide, when 
mothers and babies BF (including reduced hospital re-admissions, which ain't 
cheap);*  The Int'l Code has recognized the pervasive and negative impact of 
formula marketing in the heatlh care arena for years;*  Your own professional 
ass'n and certifying authority require adherence to the Int'l Code as a means 
of upholding the best-practices for which you are trained and credentialed as 
a professional lactation consultant;*  Other facilities [in the city, state or 
country] have recognized this as well, banning the bags [and pharmaceutical 
marketers, generally] from their premises;*  Your own hospital supports the 
goals of providing optimal, evidence-based care [see hospital home page] and 
has a policy against inappropriate conflicts of interest and protection of 
privacy; *  And--last but not least:  you were hired to offer health care to 
patients, not free and unpaid marketing for the manufacturer of anything 
(which is why you aren't wearing lapel pins from the bed-pan mfgr nor using 
pens from the IV bag mfgr nor scribbling notes on pads from the makers of the 
suture kits); and*  The hospital is losing out on a golden opportunity to toot 
its own horn:  by passing out freebies emblazoned with the hospital's logo 
(rather than that of a formula brand, or pain reliever, or car for that matter), 
mothers will have a constant reminder of their happy birth expereince -- and 
we all know that women are the health-care-treatment decision-makers, for 
their families, in most US households, for years and years and years.  In 
closing, Smile.  Liz Brooks, JD, IBCLCWyndmoor, PA, 

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