Marsha says:

"The perfect cases for a class-action lawsuit would be
cases of NEC among preterm babies whose moms want to breastfeed, but are
not supported and the baby gets formula.  We had 2 such cases in the
last months of my employment and this was suggested to me as a possible
course of action by a breastfeeding mom who was a former patient and is
an attorney. "
-Of course you would have to address the issue, or defend against, the situation where a BFd or EBM-fed baby gets NEC anyway. Rarities cannot be ignored in a lawsuit. Prepare for it because the Opposition certainly will bring it up as a defense.

"The problem would be that you'd have to contact the
families and discuss this with them and that would be painful for them
at this point.  Anyone see this as a possibility?"
-Well, there's HIPAA, privacy, ethics. We can't use hospital records for a non-hospital-care purpose.
However, one can do what the big law firms do: Advertise! They put ads in newspapers and sometimes on TV looking for people who might qualify in a Class Action lawsuit: parents of preemies who contracted NEC and who were denied EBM, or were not encouraged or supported or taught to pump & supply EBM, etc.

"I tried to get this
possible consequence across to the hospital.  Of course, they didn't
care, because formula is still the "standard"."
-Hard to fight what has become the Standard of Care: feeding formula. Other than the occasional spitup, hospitals rarely identify any problem with formula before discharge; i.e. 1-3 days post delivery. Therefore, no problem exists. The Medicare providers are quick to agree. They are interested in Dollars In / Dollars Out Today. They are not interested in what happens once the baby is off their books - financially speaking.
-Then again, because hospitals use formula so freely, almost as if it were from an unlimited free supply, they don't want to hear that there might be an actionable problem with formula. How do they then explain the hospital's total dependence on formula for babies?

Anyone know any Big Law Firms?

Phyllis in Phoenix, AZ.

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