The National Alliance for Breastfeeding Advocacy (NABA) has recently 
received a complaint from a mother describing a new (or maybe not so 
new!) formula company tactic to obtain the contact information for new 
mothers. Many hospitals contract with a photography company to take 
photos of newborn babies and sell these to new parents. One such 
company, OUR365, has partnered with Mead Johnson to sell the name, 
address, and infant's birthdate to Mead Johnson who then enrolls 
mothers in their formula club and sends them formula samples and other 
marketing material for the baby's first year.

Most hospitals are unaware that their patients' names and addresses are 
being sold to a third party. I have contacted the Office of the 
Inspector General of the Health and Human Services Department to see if 
this is a HIPAA violation. I have not heard back yet. I have a list of 
over 1900 hospitals who contract with OUR 365 as well as the contact 
information for the marketing manager of that company if anyone is 
interested to see if their hospital or other hospitals where your 
mothers deliver engages the services of this photography company. You 
may wish to inform the hospitals in your state who use OUR365 about 
this behavior. This has been particularly distressing to Baby Friendly 
hospitals or those with a certificate of intent as well as those 
hospitals who have worked so hard to eliminate the formula company 
discharge bags.

This slimy tactic is yet another example of the lengths formula 
companies go to undermine breastfeeding. Maybe a few hundred letters to 
OUR365 will get the message across.

Marsha Walker, RN, IBCLC
Weston, MA

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome