OK, Lactnetters, I'll relent a bit and reconsider the selling of new
breastpumps in the original boxes, but I still have concerns about the
"marketing" of breastfeeding advice and equipment in this manner. There are
good, valid arguments pro and con: Medela should make a 'safer' pump, free
commerce should allow sales at whatever price the market will bear, etc. But
I was thinking about this from a different perspective, that of gaining
acceptance and respect for our young profession. A mother selling a used
pump to try to recoup some of her costs, or because she doesn't know any
better is understandable to me. Somehow IBCLC's hawking pumps, breast shells,
etc, on an internet auction site just doesn't seem to portray the
professional, responsible image I have of myself and others in this
profession. I realize this is just another chapter in the sales/making a
living vs. the "purity" of the calling, but somehow it just hits me wrong.
I, too, have had moms come to me with non-working PNSs they purchased at
garage sales, from friends, 2nd or 3rd hand. One could argue "buyer beware"
or that it's Medela's problem, but it's our problem too. I don't see nurses
or doctors auctioning off used medical equipment with the expectation that it
will actually be used again for its intended purpose. Books, ok. Items of
historical interest, fine. Somehow I have to draw the line at single-user
products like breastpumps. What's next? When grandma dies, do we auction
her artificial limbs? Used hearing aids? Old eyeglasses?
Frankly, I'm surprised nobody commented on the listing of telephone
consultations I mentioned earlier. Am I the only one who finds this
auctioning of professional health services offensive? Maybe I'm being too
sensitive. . . .
Barbara Ash, MA, IBCLC
Canberra, Australia
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