-- [ From: Carolyn Brown * EMC.Ver #2.5.02 ] --

A couple months ago, I was peripherally involved in a case where the
Department of Human Services (DHS) took custody of a young mother's baby for
failure to thrive.  It started at the 2-week checkup when the baby had not
regained birth weight.  The baby did regain birth weight a week later but
the doctor threatened the mother with hospitalization if the baby didn't
gain more quickly.  The mother and grandmother stated they wanted a second
opinion and were told something to the effect of "I'll tell you when you
need a second opinion."  In spite of such threats and hostile attitudes, the
baby did gain weight, quite slowly, but steadily.  Soon after the doctor
told the mother and grandmother to take the baby to the hospital; if they
didn't, the doctor would call DHS to forcibly take the baby  This is what
did in fact happen.  At a hearing a couple weeks later, my co-Leader and a
local IBCLC both testified that the baby's weight gain was slow but well
within normal limits.  This had little if any effect that day.  The baby was
out of the mother's custody for eight weeks.  A month before the mother
regained custody, they finally got their second opinion - a pediatrician
examined all the recorded weights and the baby and declared that nothing had
been amiss; the baby should not have been hospitalized, much less taken from
the mother.  The mother did pump some, but ultimately decided to discontinue
breastfeeding, because she is worried that it could again lead to the baby
being taken from her.

I pray for the families in similar situations that other Lactnetters have
written about.  It makes me sick at heart.  But, please tell me if I'm
paranoid:  does anyone else see a pattern here?  Or the potential for one?
If I'm an MD and I say your baby isn't gaining well enough, I can have
social services take your baby away. If I'm a ABM company rep, I can plant
the idea with the local physicians that slow-gaining bf babies should be put
on ABM, even if it has to be forcibly.

I have been kicking around the idea of writing to my state legislators to
write a law requiring the input of lactation consultants in such cases.
Every time I read on Lactnet about something like this happening, it
convinces me more that the effort would be worth it.  I don't know if such a
law would be constitutional, enactable, or if certain monied special
interests would see that it didn't get enacted or enforced.  But am I crazy?
 Does anyone else see any need for some kind of checks and balances here, to
the power that the physician in these cases can yield?

Thanks.  Sorry this was so long.

Best regards,
Carolyn Brown, La Leche League Leader, Cedar Falls, Iowa, USA