My two cents on informing doctors: As angry as I get, I have found it
best to keep informing the doctor patiently, as if I had no idea he/she is a
total ...... (you fill in descriptive term).  I think of the really "stubborn" hcps
(health care providers) as "informationally impaired." (Thinking about
them too literally raises my blood pressure dangerously...)
Drip...drip...drip--like water that forms a big puddle one drop at a time:
that's how I keep feeding my info. Sometimes the hcps change (but I
don't count on it). If you send out your treatment plan to let them know
what you advised the patient, and provide them with (easy to
understand) references, you have done your part. Most hcps don't
want, or have time, to do lots of reading. A headline, a few information
boxes, and an indication that the information comes from an "authority"
works better than pages of exhaustive research.

As for information regarding increases in malpractice litigation--that part I
would tell to the patient. I consider health care as a consumer industry,
and my job is partly to make the patient an informed consumer. When I
have the correct info I say so. If I can back up my treatment advice with
references I do so.  Diplomacy is important when informing the patient
that her doctor (or other hcp) has not given her the correct information. I
generally suggest that he/she has not had access to the proper info. As
they say, condemn the sin --not the sinner.

If you find out that your patient has told the MD that his/her info is
incorrect Hooray! You've done it. The MD is in business to serve
customers--and when customers begin to demand proper treatment
things will change.

Also, get together with other LCs in your area and share the tasks of
spreading correct information. Start a local campaign to educate all the
hcps about bf issues. Raise awareness of your profession within your
community.

Does anyone else sense that we, as LCs, are having difficulty "coming
of age"? We are professionals. We are experts. Within the bounds of our
expertise we need to have as much faith in our abilities and knowledge
as other hcps have in theirs. One medical doctor will disagree with
another without the angst I see when an LC disagrees with an MD.
Experts disagree with each other all the time. We as LCs need to learn
the skill of maintaining our own professional stance, without agonizing
about the "other guys". And, if we inform patients who then follow "the
other guy"--well, let it go.

BTW: Use the telephone and call the MD--especially if you wonder "if he
even read it or if was angry to even hear from me."  MDs routinely call
each other and discuss their patients.  It is OK to have a difference of
opinion!  Listen to the opposing view. Don't count on changing minds, but
count on yourself to defend your information. The worst that can happen
is you will discover he didn't read it--and is angry   ;o/

Wow...my O2 levels are dropping. Sliding back to sea level...

Margery Wilson, IBCLC