Dear all: I am sorry if I see the issue of MDs quite differently. I have written reports, made every effort to communicate, and I find that most MDs are quite reasonable. And some of them don't. I think of the pediatrician who didn't read my report, nor the report of the endocrinologist who diagnosed a baby with a genetic abnormality in her aldosterone levels that caused her to lose weight rapidly. This pediatrician yelled at the mother for seeing the gastroenterologist that the pediatrician herself told the mother she must see. I think of the pediatrician who devoted an entire chapter in his book on "breasfeeding consultants" denigrating us as a profession. He did not devote any other chapter to any other health care professional denigrating their profession. I totally agree that it would be embarrassing to come to a conference where your profession is spoken of in disrepectful terms. IBCLCs should not do so. However, the onus goes both ways. How many times have IBCLCs been treated disrespectfully? This continual process of operating under adverse conditions when our profession is not taken seriously, or even worse, thought of in negative terms by other health care practitioners puts us in a position of weakness. Studies in management show that "sabotage" is most likely to occur when compentent people are not allowed to function autonomously and thus, the reaction of complaining, grumbling, making jokes about those who are in a position of power. It should not happen, but it does. Students criticize teachers, employees criticize their bosses, etc. If we are going to call for IBCLCs to have this in their scope of practice, I would say that we should call for a similar action in the scope of practice for MDs at the same time. Do MDs have a requirement in their scope of practice that they must work collaboratively with other allied health care practitioners? Are they subject to losing their lisence for slaundering other professions? MDs are in a position of power. That means that they should (and again I will say many do) act even more responsibly than those over whom they exert that power. That means, first and foremost, their clients and also allied health care professionals with whom they work. I would love it if the ABM conference would address this issue specifically to develop MUTUAL respect. And I do ask the MDs on the list how they would help this process along with their own peers. I know that you are not responsible for the actions of the few of your peers who continually criticize our profession, but you do work with them as well and may have insights into strategies for improving communication. It MUST work both ways. Even if we do hold ourselves as IBCLCs to a higher standard in treating others with respect, it does not always mean that we will be treated with respect ourselves. Best regards, Susan E. Burger, MHS, PhD, IBCLC *********************************************** 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 email list is powered by LISTSERV (R). There is only one LISTSERV. To learn more, visit: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html