In a nutshell, and with my unavoidable USA take on things: (1) The ILCA Standards of Practice are our "shoulds:" a best-practices guideline of how IBCLCs should be conducting themselves professionally. If you don't follow them, your colleagues can scold you and gossip about you. (2) The IBLCE Code of Ethics are our "musts:" a mandate of professional lactation consultant conduct. If you don't follow it, your colleagues can file a written complaint about you with IBLCE, and you could have your IBCLC certification yanked. (3) Now -- without re-opening the can of worms -- a third type of document to direct and govern appropriate IBCLC professionalism would be a "Scope of Practice." Who should write it and administer it, and what the sanctions are for failure to comply, are under something of a debate right now. (Customarily, a scope of practice is administered by a licensing board, which can yank your license for failure to comply. But IBCLCs are not licensed.) So let's just put that hot potato back on the stove for now. (4) One's national (or regional or state or local ) law trumps all of these documents. If you don't follow the law, you can be sued or jailed. So, if the place where you live and work provides for a different legal scenario (i.e. privacy mandates) than any of these practice guidelines, you can (and should) follow the law. (5) If one is a member of a few professions (lawyer and IBCLC; nurse and IBCLC; midwife and IBCLC), you will generally be held to the "most generous" standard. For example, an RN/IBCLC can say: I refuse to hand out formula marketing bags, because my IBCLC Code of Ethics requires that I uphold the International [WHO] Code even tho my RN scope of practice is silent on the matter ..." (6) Last but not least: *My* interpretation of the "musts" and "shoulds" is that an IBCLC does not operate in a vacuum. S/he pulls other health care providers into the loop as appropriate (by sending reports, or making phone calls, or stopping colleagues for a chat in the hallway). Liz Brooks, JD, IBCLC Wyndmoor, PA, USA _________________________________________________________________ Get FREE company branded e-mail accounts and business Web site from Microsoft Office Live http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/mcrssaub0050001411mrt/direct/01/ *********************************************** 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 email list is powered by LISTSERV (R). There is only one LISTSERV. To learn more, visit: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html