I'm really upset at the tone I am hearing here. Do we think that Medela and Hollister and every other breast pump company should do what they do for free? If so, there would be NO resources for moms who need them! Hospitals pay the formula companies for HMF. This charge is passed on to the patient, the insurance companies, etc. If not, and the trend continues and nobody is paid for it, nobody survives and nobody eats. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH! Yes, I'm shouting. This is a philosophical argument about whether people deserve or don't deserve to be paid. The closest think I can think of is blood is donated and blood is sold to make various blood products that are then sold. No one seems to be having a discussion of the ethics of that! And the last time I heard, breast milk is a pretty much renewable resource. The purpose of not making direct payments to moms is to not deny the mother's own baby of the breast milk she makes, I would think.
-----Original Message-----
From: Lactation Information and Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Janice Reynolds
Sent: Wednesday, March 08, 2006 9:09 AM
Subject: Re: Update
----- Original Message -----
> Prolacta generously offered to donate banked milk and the shipping
> costs, and the use of a breastpump ( thank you, thank you), and after
getting
> FedEx overnight service to the Outer Banks, the baby received the milk.
> So we are now watching to see how much continued healing occurs, and enjoy
> watching this mom learn how to mother a happy baby. Thank you Elena for
your
> gracious gift. There is no value that can be placed on this.
Is this Elena's precious gift? - or the gift of the mothers who produced the
milk with their own bodies, from their cells and blood, who gave up their
privacy to be screened and selected, and then took their time to carefully
pump and package it.
I am very happy for baby and its family. But lets be clear here - in a
for-profit venture - all "donations" are measured against the benefit to the
company in good will that will generate future sales. As a new business,
they need to become known, there will have been a budget for this. The cost
will be covered by other sales. No employee will go without a day's pay, no
rent will go unpaid, to cover this cost.
The mother's are the ones who are going without pay for their time while
they pump. Their household is providing the food, that will become their
milk. For that matter, Barbara was the one giving of her time and expertise
for free, to be the "salesperson", to educate the market (this is called
"building primary demand" in marketing terms) so that Prolacta will make a
profit in the future.
There *is* a value that can be placed on the efforts of the mothers and
Barbara. By giving these efforts away, we see that they are forgotten.
Only that which is *paid* for, gets noted.
Janice Reynolds
(in *my* view, the moms should be paid, and Barbara should get a commission
from Prolacta)
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