I was called to account by the Ethics and Discipline Committee many 
years ago and the physician who had asked for my services was also 
called before her College disciplinary committee.    The complaint 
reached us about two years after I had seen the patient/client.  I was 
given the complaint and asked to respond, which I did in a fourteen 
page letter complete with copies of the original notes, ,references 
from the literature for my suggestions and extra letters of reference 
from my employer.    ( Ladies and gentlemen, make sure you take good 
notes!)  .    The Committee found that the complaint was not justified, 
and the College came to the same conclusion regarding the complaint 
against the physician.    How could we have defended ourselves against 
an anonymous complaint?    There is no way a complaint can be anonymous 
and taken seriously.

I served as a member of the ethics and discipline committee when I was 
on the IBLCE Board committee .   At that time the chair and the 
designated reviewer knew the name of the IBCLC and the complainant, but 
the rest of the committee did not.   The designated reviewer needed the 
information in case there were questions which arose from the written 
material or missing information.   During discussions, there were no 
names mentioned and none recorded unless there was a finding against 
the IBCLC.

In any court, the defendant needs to know what the charges are-- how 
can we be any less just at IBLCE?

Eileen Ahearn Shea, BSc, IBCLC
Clinical Lecturer, Department of Family Medicine
McMaster University School of Medicine

lOn 7-May-07, at 8:52 PM, Kathy Eng wrote:

> The other issue of non-communication is the new procedures for 
> complaints against IBCLCs. I personally think they are very good and a 
> step in the right direction. But the fact that these were revised has 
> not been announced to IBCLCs. We only know because someone with good 
> eyes found it on the website.
>
> As far as the lack of ethics complaints, I would suggest like the 
> other writer, that the reason they are so low is that 1). the general 
> public has no idea that they can complain about someone and 2). the 
> fact that you can not complain anonymously or that the IBLCE doesn't 
> even take the complainants name off the copies sent to the person 
> being complained about, is daunting. It opens up the complainant to 
> the wrath of the person they feel has harmed them or done something 
> ethically wrong.
>
> I made a complaint and I felt the IBCLE did nothing to protect me and 
> allowed this person to retaliate.
>
> But then I am one of those negative people who are disillusioned by 
> the IBLCE and did not hear back from them with specific answer to my 
> letter of concern over the SOP. So maybe take this with a grain of 
> salt knowing who it comes from.
>
> Kathy Eng, BSW, IBCLC
>
>             ***********************************************
>
> Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
> Mail all commands to [log in to unmask]
> To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
> To start it again: set lactnet mail (or 
> [log in to unmask])
> To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet or 
> ([log in to unmask])
> To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
>

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
Mail all commands to [log in to unmask]
To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or [log in to unmask])
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet or ([log in to unmask])
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]