Miriam writes:>and we don't ask permission to do a vag. exam in labor, check
>perineum postpartum, etc. - a more personal area, it seems to me.  Rather, we
>explain what we need to do and why.  I'm not saying we shouldn't, just
>wondering why it's different.  Maybe because our role as LCs is less clearly

and then Deborah writes:>Unfortunately, too much of my class time is spent
teaching couples how to
>avoid and/or overcome/minimize the potential unwanted effects or consequenses
>of health care facility procedures and interventions. Without all that
>presently neccessary instruction, childbirth classes would be less time-
>consuming.
>
And this is one of the biggest reasons I had my babies at home with a
midwife. This, in my never humble opinion, is one of the problems with
medicine today. Perhaps is more asking of permission, complete with honest
explanation for need were done, less of the latter would be necessary?

Anyone who is working with me medically, unless I am incoherent, in a coma,
or in a life threatening emergency (no a real one, not just normal labor)
had better ASK my permission before they touch MY body.

If someone did a VAGINAL (yes I'm yelling) exam on me during labor without
asking me first I'd bite their head off (ever hear Bill Cosby on labor?) and
then I would file a formal complaint. In my never to be humble opinion it is
NEVER appropriate to touch a woman's body (or man's for that matter!)
without their permission if they are conscious.

Now, rant over, I think the difference may be semantics here... In the
course of explaining a procedure, it seems to me that you are implicitly
asking permission to do that procedure. The problem comes in when
practitioners feel they have some "right" by virtue of their title to touch,
poke and prod without explanation and thus permission.

So in a lactation setting it may not be clear to a mom that you need to hold
her breast or raise the side to see the lower lip position, etc. and thus
asking her by way of explaining your purpose is necessary and proper.

stepping off her soapbox,
anne