Dear all: The concept of being "owned" by a practitioner is quite an anathema to me. I HIRE my health care practitioners. When I feel they have not kept up with the research, I do fire them and choose another. But I guess I'm an anomaly. For example, I stopped going to my OBs office when she moved and her former partners allowed the formula companies to display their products. I also stopped going to a well-reknowned tropical medicine specialist to get my malaria prophylaxis, because instead of providing me with research articles about the choices, he gave me an inflammatory letter he had written to the New York Times about a particular form of prophylaxis and in that letter to the Times he defamed the CDC. He had no idea that my friend had participated in that research and I knew the real research well (not the opinion and anecdotes that he presented in his letter to the Times). He was shocked when I went toe to toe with him discussing the research and it was clear he was not used to a client questioning his pronouncements. On the other hand, I adore my son's pediatrician even though everything he ever suggested for breastfeeding was wrong or didn't work. I didn't hire him to give me breastfeeding advice - I hired him to care for my son when he's ill and periodically check to make sure my son is developing appropriately. He at least admits that "breastfeeding is messy" and difficult to understand and refers clients to LCs. In other words, he does not present himself as someone who must be obeyed at all costs. Moving on, this whole topic about MDs and IBCLCs has made me think about the division between nonMD and MD at the American Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine. I am fully aware of the rationale for separating the MDs from the rest of us. Yet, I still resent the fact that I am excluded from talks that I feel I am completely able to comprehend and I feel cheated that this information is withheld from me. Since I cannot change the ABM policy anymore than I can convert the subset of MDs who refuse to refer to IBCLCs, I've been wondering about the many ways one can start bridging the gap among the MDs who are a little more receptive to learning about the benefits of a mutual working relationship with IBCLCs. One way that has worked with many of the MDs in Manhattan has been the pediatrician reports and phone calls. It even worked with one very resistant MD. And who knows, when I recover a little stamina, I may even get back to working on Dr. Trendy and in 15-20 years may wear him down. BUT, I'm wondering if over the next few years, a concerted effort could be made to entice the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine to include sessions for both MDs and IBCLCs at the annual meeting that would deal with the topic of how to BRIDGE the gap between MDs and IBCLCs, highlighting the importance of creating diaglogue between the two groups. As an IBCLC, I see the importance of this, of course, but I still haven't thought up a way to make the whole concept "sexy" for the ABM and for the MDs that might be receptive and consider the idea. Whenever I think about this, I see the MDs fleeing as soon as the "scientific" sessions are over so they don't have to talk to the rest of us. Any thoughts? Susan E. Burger, MHS, PHD, IBCLC PS. I also think there is a great difference between mutual professional respect where you don't intrude without invitation versus impeding someone's ability to seek adjunct care or another professional opinion. *********************************************** 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