I am so angry I am shaking!  I just got off the phone with a nurse at my
clients MD's office.  Let me start at the beginning.
Dad came into WIC office to reapply for mom and 15do baby. He mentioned
his wife is pumping and dumping because MD told her she could not
breastfeed (she is haitian and had bf her two other children 2yr each)
due to hypertension medication prescribed (Veralan).  I asked if I could
call MD to verify circumstances.  MD did not come to the phone as he was
seeing patients but spoke with attending nurse.  She stated that they
consulted with a nephrologist and cardiologist and decided it would not
be healthy for the baby to nurse and told mother she could not.  She
further implied that she was outraged that I could possibly question
their decision.  She showed me no professional courtesy whatsoever.  I
gently mentioned to her that I was a board certified lactation
consultant, that lactation was my specialty and that I was just trying to
help my client and her desire to breastfeed and see if there was an
alternate medication she could take.  She stated "they had every book
out" (PDR probably, paid for by ads from the pharmaceutical companies)
and repeated that she consulted with a nephrologist and cardiologist. She
was VERY rude to me!  I hung up the phone and did what I should have done
before the call, looked up in Hale and Breastfeeding for the Med. Prof.
and found the med is APPROVED by AAP for use in Bfing mothers!!!!!!!  The
dad was here when I found this info out and I shared with him  what I
found(since I was irrate it was hard to hide it from him even if I wanted
to).  He was very upset and couldn't understand why they told her she
couldn't breastfeed.  I faxed the info I found to the MD's office to the
attention of the MD and asked him to call me back so we could discuss
possible options for the mom/baby dyad.
I'm upset with the whole episode.  I wanted to work with this MD but
apparently I have no credibility because afterall the NEPHROLOGIST AND
CARDIOLOGIST are more qualified to make decisions where breastfeeding is
concerned!  Any suggestions on how to follow through?
Ilene Fabisch, IBCLC, LLLL
WIC Bfing Coordinator
Brockton, MA

___________________________________________________________________
You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.
Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html
or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]

             ***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html