There is often a fine line between diagnosing and what is in our scope of practice. We do often see a combination of symptoms that makes us strongly suspect a particular medical diagnosis. We are often in a position to better identify the cause of a problem than the doc is. However, when it comes to a medical label, that is out of our scope (except for those LCs who have other credentials that gives them this authority-however they are not acting as an LC when they diagnose). Some docs have no problem with whatever language we use to convey our findings while others are very defensive of their "area of juristiction". There is definitely language we can use. I frequently will say something like "What I see is consistent with....." or "I see similar symotoms in moms (babies) who have....." or, "Many times when moms report.....or I see....the cause is............." I will definitely tell a mom, "I can't diagnose, only your doctor can do that, but I would suggest you ask if it might be...." or, "I will pass my observations along to your doctor and ask if he/she thinks it might be....." Winnie *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html