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Subject:
From:
"Barbara Wilson-Clay,BSE,IBCLC" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 2 Dec 1997 09:50:55 -0600
Content-Type:
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I have been thinking about the current thread on the  ethics of pumps, and
think the emphasis should be on the word ETHICS and not the word PUMPS.
Just because good dental hygiene can prevent caries, I don't want my dentist
to punish me if I get a cavity by yanking my tooth with a pair of pliers.  I
also  don't want my dentist to be pulling perfectly good teeth (even if he
yanks them  painlessly)  just to make a buck.  As health professionals, we
subscribe to a CODE of ETHICS.  Our main moral obligation is not to the
profit motive but to our clients.  As a business owner as well as a
practicioner (which is a duality affecting many other health professionals),
I have sweated bullets over staying afloat in an very uncertain sea.  With
increasing competition, with changes in how health care is paid for,  with
increased costs in every area, I can sympathize with the pressure people
feel to use retail income to float their practice work. But our work must
always be dominated by the realization we are not just retailers:  We are
HEALTH PROFESSIONALS.  We risk discrediting all the work of the past 20
years and violating the public trust if we forget ethics.

   I don't think that having pumps to rent is bad.  I use pumps to manage a
variety of clinical situations, although  I personally no longer sell pumps.
What I thinkof as getting onto thin ice is mass distribution of pumps,
providing pumps for no particular reason (because they are a necessary piece
of "baby equipment",) or taking advantage of "captive audiences" to market
equipment. In some cases, it is clinically clear that the woman needs a pump
to manage a situation. In those cases, safe, clean, effective equipment
should be made available by someone skilled in counseling about its
appropriate use.  In some cases women want a pump and ask for one. I ask
them why they need one and give them accurate information about which pump
would best meet that need.  It may be that their reason for "needing" one is
based on misinformation which I will try to correct.

  It's not my job to talk people into or out of things, however I have an
obligation to not participate in the marketing of items I feel are silly,
useless, or counterproductive.  And it's no fair to kid myself about which
items those are.  I am obligated to read the clinical research (not the
marketing ad copy of the manufacturer) when I make that kind of decision
about efficacy.  It IS my job to represent my profession with scrupulous
ethical conduct in the purveying and provission of any equipment related to
the clinical management of breastfeeding.

Barbara

Barbara Wilson-Clay, BS, IBCLC
Private Practice, Austin, Texas
Owner, Lactnews On-Line Conference Page
http://moontower.com/bwc/lactnews.html

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