Just wanted to add my two cents on this.

I recall from the initial post on MD's attending the ILCA conference for free
that this was suggested for RESIDENT physcians (physicians in residency
training).
These physicians in training are not highly paid-in fact if one divides the
numbers of hours worked (although in a few states there are laws limiting the
hours of work that a resident may work, many still work 60-100 hours per
week) the pay is just above minimum wage.  Couple this with the fact that
many residents in training in the US have rather large loan repayment bills
and you have  physicians who are definitely not at the top of even a nursing
pay scale.  Where I trained at Kaiser San Francisco in the early nineties,
the nurses were paid significantly more than the resident physicians.

At many CME conferences residents are usually given a reduced rate or free
tuition for the conference (depends on how it is sponsored).  When I was in
residency training, I was too financially strapped to attend many outside CME
conferences- fortunately there were conferences with the special reduced
rates that I could attend.

Young physicians are great potential allies.  Many are open to learning
beyond the "traditional" medical curriculum.  I still think it is important
to build better lines of communication between physician and non-physician
lactation professionals.   What better way to do this than to encourage
younger professionals in both categories to learn and work together.

Pierrette Mimi Poinsett, M.D., F.A.A.P.
Modesto CA