This story is very alarming.  We have two opposing viewpoints presented by
Barb and Mary which make good points.  It seems to me that there are two
separate issues here which should not be lumped together.  Both issues I
find alarming.  As I see it, they are:
1.  A woman/nurse put another woman's child to her breast without permission
and in the course of her job (meaning it wasn't a friend or acqaintance's
child.  She only had contact with him/her because of her position as a nurse
in the ER).
2.  Putting a child who is not your own to breast is labeled lewd and
disgusting.  It was alleged that this woman "violated the most vulnerable
people of our society--not just the infants but the parents of the victims,"
and is charged with a sexual crime.

Now, on the first point, obviously none of us would advocate doing this and
we wouldn't support someone else in doing it either.  It is no doubt a
breach of trust, however, I would want a few more details before making up
my mind just how serious a breach this was.  We cannot assume any of the
details which have been proposed regarding cultural influence from the
nurse's raising, the presence or lack thereof, of milk and what this woman's
intent might have been.  It's possible that she merely wanted to soothe a
baby in the best way she knew how.  It's also possible that there was a
less-than-savory reason for the same.  It is striking to me that we have not
heard of this case through our own network; ie. Someone who knew the woman.
If she is pleading guilty to one charge and not contacting any of us for
help or support, she isn't a LLL mom/grandma, I would guess.  But we still
don't know enough to make a judgment either way.

It is the second count which most disturbs me! "violating" a person is a
sexually_charged term.  Barb is right in that this story presents this
entirely from a singular point of view, and it isn't complimentary to
breastfeeding.  In fact, it SHOULD outrage us, if only that this other
aspect is nowhere present in the story.  They do not even *speculate* that
this woman might have had an altruistic motivation for her action.  At the
least, the writer did a poor job of exploring background for his/her story.
At the worst, we have just met our worst nightmare: breastfeeding being
presented as a lewd and lascivious act and one with sexual connotations,
even when it involves a baby!  Regardless of whether the woman in this case
was the mother or not, allowing this classification to go unchallenged is a
slippery slope for all of us.  We should at least be attempting to find out
more.
That's how I see it anyway.
Marsha

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Marsha Glass RN, BSN, IBCLC~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mothers have as powerful an influence over the welfare of future generations
as all other earthly causes combined. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~John S. C.
Abbot~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




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