Dear all:

With the downturn in the economy, I've been listening to the radio too much.  One of the 
talk shows was making an analogy that what has happened to newspapers with google 
linking into their content for free is like the parasite killing the host.  One could 
extrapolate this analogy to any number of situations in our modern life --- but some 
recent situations have come up that are making me contemplate the ethical quandry of 
whether these situations are parasitic or symbiotic.

One situation is pre- and postnatal educational center.  This center would hired lactation 
consultants to provide education and also "refer" clients to them (and just like when you 
sign on to an insurance company, the lactation consultants would earn less than on the 
open market because some of that money would go to the group).  In terms of autonomy, 
there seemed to be all sorts of conflicts in terms of what forms, information, educational 
materials and referrals would be allowed.  The center wanted uniformity and those who 
are in the decision making positions did not have in-depth knowledge of lactation.  So, at 
least one lactation consultant was allegedly told that she could not say breastfeeding was 
better than formula. The question becomes, do lactation consultants really benefit from 
such an arrangement?  Would they benefit if they were included in the decision making 
process and development of the forms, materials, information and referral lists?  And 
what compensation should they expect if they did indeed develop the materials?  And 
what would the lactation consultants be receiving in return for this arrangement if their 
fees were lowered?  especially since this is a start up and they might not be getting that 
many extra referrals?

The other situation is a retail store that wants to provide postnatal education such as 
breastfeeding groups.  The retail store actually received an inquiry from one of those 
"sponsored" mommy networks wanted to "sponsor" the group.  Sponsoring meant nothing 
more than an email about the groups - no direct monetary transfer.  In exchange for 
"sponsoring" a "logo" for the mommy network would be placed on materials about the 
breastfeeding group.  This mommy network routinely recruits specialists to do talks and 
does not pay them for speaking.  Supposedly this results in referrals.  One lactation 
consultant admitted that this results in very few referrals.  Again, I'm contemplating, is 
this parasitism or symbiosis?

In both cases, there have been allegations of promotional samples of formula being 
distributed by the "parasite" or "symbiont" depending on your view.


Best, Susan

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