Thanks for that reminder, Jane, of where we were before this product became available for VLBW babies. I remember Nancy Wight speaking out and asking for this product at the San Jose HMBANA conference in... 2003?
A big issue for me is transparency. It has frustrated me that virtually of the public discussion around Prolacta and how it gets its milk has been driven by activists and bloggers.
Women should know exactly what they are getting into when they donate to a bank that sends milk to Prolacta. If it weren't for the efforts of a handful of outspoken individuals who have blogged faithfully and pushed the issue into mainstream media from time to time, there wouldn't be nearly as much disclosure as we have now. I believe that current level of discussion - and disclosure - is still inadequate.
I am not saying there is full transparency on the non-profit side either.
I also don't believe a lack of commitment to transparency is necessarily a sign of deliberate deception. Sometimes it's just inexperience or fatigue or a lack of depth - or even just an inability to foresee the unintended results of nondisclosure.
I do believe we can all do better at this. I'm hoping for some productive and open dialogue on Lactnet around this issue - it's been a long time coming.
-- Jodine Chase
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
On 2011-06-24, at 8:14 AM, [log in to unmask] wrote:
> I want to play advocate here - not because I have any interest in prolacta or ross. I work with a level 3 NICU where babies are cared for that are ventilator dependent, as young as 23 weeks with multiple needs. Our NICU MD's would LOVE to be able to provide all human milk diet to these babies INCLUDING prolacta-style human-milk based fortifiers which these babies NEED as Dr. Wight will testify. Just like babies occasionally need blood transfusions from donated blood, babies NEED human milk fortifiers from human milk donations. There is a huge cost to blood transfusions that is paid by the patient or their insurer or if those default, by the hospital itself (and taxpayers and investors, etc.). Do I get paid when I donate blood? No. I will make more. Maybe blood banks should become milk depots. There is expense involved for processing whole blood donations into various components such as platelets, packed cells, etc. The patient/hospital/insurer/taxpayer pays extra for those products. Again, the donor isn't paid except with thanks. Do some people I don't think are very good people get some of my blood when I donate? Yes. Should I not donate? No. You gotta be careful here. I think we need community milk banks and mothers should be encouraged to donate AND we should have a prolacta available. The cost of the product includes all the R&D, marketing, equipment, etc. Milk banks charge for their product, but it is subsidized by donations of time and money and goods in kind. If we put a true dollar value and included all the startup costs etc into the price of it, it would be more expensive.
> The bottom line is: are mothers who donate to these banks (for profit) being swindled? I think not. This milk WILL be used to help a small preemie who may be saved from NEC and its sequalae. And without profit motive, prolacta might not have money from venture capitalists that it took to build a processing center and acquire the technology to create a wonderful product. I remember Maureen Minchin speaking many years ago about the importance of developing such a product and I'm glad someone did. I hope they can survive the crunch on both sides of this discussion, because there's nothing else out there like it!
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Lactation Information and Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of [log in to unmask]
> Sent: Thursday, June 23, 2011 1:05 PM
> Subject: Had to share
>
> For those of you who haven't gotten this on Facebook:
>
> _http://justwestofcrunchy.com/2011/06/23/swindled-the-ugly-side-of-milk-dona
> tion/_
> (http://justwestofcrunchy.com/2011/06/23/swindled-the-ugly-side-of-milk-donation/)
>
> Someone has done her homework....
>
> Jan Barger, RN, MA, IBCLC, FILCA
> _www.grammiesawards.blogspot.com_ (http://www.grammiesawards.blogspot.com/)
>
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