> There is obviously more to this than is being reported. If social workers= > =20 > have become involved (as is reported) then there are obviously > multiple=20= > > problems with this mother (and maybe other family members). This is not necessarily true. I have worked for the equivalent of the US child protective services here in Canada, and I have seen cases with some similarity to this one. I remember one case from several years ago where a breastfed baby was diagnosed with cancer and the doctors recommended immediate treatment. The mother and father asked for some time to get a second opinion. The doctor then went to child protective services to have the child made a ward of the province in order to begin the treatment immediately. The parents - who were, by the way, excellent parents and this was even stipulated to by everyone involved - lost custody of this child simply because they wanted a second opinion. I do know all the details of this case so I can confirm that there were no other - and certainly not "multiple" - problems. It is my experience that some doctors (not all) feel very strongly that their medical advice and recommendations should be followed, and that when parents don't follow that advice, they are putting their children at risk and that it is therefore quite reasonable to call in social workers. They may feel this way even if the parents are otherwise wonderful parents. It is also my experience that social workers, and often judges as well, tend to be very impressed by doctors and their medical expertise. If a doctor says this baby must have a certain treatment or surgery or else he will die, the social workers usually accept that without any further investigation and conclude that the parents who want to investigate further or consider other options are simply putting the baby at risk. I don't know all the details of this particular case, obviously. But we certainly can't conclude that "there are obviously multiple problems" simply because social workers and child protective services have become involved. Teresa Pitman *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html