As HCP, do we have a responsibility to report to child services this type
of interaction?
I dont know,but it seems like there is potential for harm.


On Fri, Apr 6, 2018, 10:18 AM Sonya Myles <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I hesitate to get into this conversation, it has the potential to blow up
> into a really heated argument, and that is not my intention at all. I just
> wanted to bring in a harm reduction viewpoint.
>
> I am going to use myself as an example. I am overweight, to a point that
> it actually does affect my health. I don't look massively overweight, but I
> am carrying an extra 20 to 30 pounds on a smaller frame, and my back hurts
> more when I carry this extra weight. I know that I should eat a healthy
> diet, and exercise more. I know I should avoid junk food, and yet, some
> days, the junk food is calling and I find it too hard to not answer. The
> other day someone brought in doughnuts to work. By the end of a crazy busy
> shift with no real breaks, and many complicated cases, I had eaten my way
> through 3 of them. 3 doughnuts in one day.... what was I thinking? I know
> all the stuff I should be doing, and for the most part I try and do it. I
> have all the intellectual knowledge, and then I have my real life.
>
> We know that people use drugs and medication for different effects.
> Telling them we don't agree with what they are doing isn't actually going
> to change behaviour. On that busy shift at work, if you had come between me
> and those doughnuts... I would not have been a nice person. I know what I
> should be doing, but don't tell me what I can be doing.
>
> I know, telling them that they can go ahead won't change behaviour either,
> and I am not suggesting that at all. I am suggesting we provide information
> on what the reasons are we would not recommend taking these drugs, and then
> the information that if a person decides to take those drugs, how to take
> them as safely as possible. It really is about harm reduction. People have
> the right to chose how to live their lives, and unless they are harming
> another individual, I don't know if it is our "right" as health care
> providers to judge them.
>
> In this case there is a baby involved, but the mother did approach a HCP
> for help in being able to take these drugs safely in the context of pumping
> and breastmilk feeding. While I may not applaud her actions in taking the
> drugs, I will stand up and cheer that she is responsible enough to ask for
> information on how to keep her baby safe while she does take them. I am
> impressed that she braved the health care system which does tend to be a
> bit "holier than thou" and preachy when it comes to lifestyle choices. I am
> a bit of an oddity in the health care system, I am not sure I always agree
> with what western medicine does, and Lord knows, enough baby boys die each
> year due to complications from circumcision that we really shouldn't
> believe everything we say.  But I digress.
>
> It's a hard line to find, not endorsing destructive behaviour, but
> ensuring harm reduction and health promotion at the same time. I can tell
> you though, that at the end of that shift, if someone had lectured me about
> eating those 3 doughnuts, I would have simply made a mental note to avoid
> that person in the future. But if someone has said, hey, want to come on a
> digestive walk with me around the hospital, I would have said, "Yes
> please!". I don't need people to judge me for my actions, I need people to
> understand that my life is multifaceted and complicated to the nth degree.
> I am pretty sure that everyone's life is like that. When people approach us
> for help in unusuall circumstances, that we may or may not agree with on a
> personal or even professional level, our correct response should be
> education and harm reduction, vs. judging and preaching. Joy Noel Weiss,
> who I miss dearly, always used to tell me, "walk softly with a big stick".
>
> Sonya
> who is still learning about walking softly, the big stick thing she had
> figured out in JK
> and who is so very grateful for the information provided by Shaland, who
> reminded me that it is about harm reduction, because yes, my first response
> was also to scoff at medicinal reasons for LSD...
>
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