XL14: Legal and Ethical Challenges for Lactation Consultants

Liz Brooks Lecturer: Liz Brooks
CERPs: 1.0 E CERP
Cost: US$15.00
Access period: One week
Lecture recorded: at GOLD09
Synopsis:  Around the world, private practice lactation consultants (PPLCs) fill a gap: providing skilled lactation care for the mother who has left the hospital or birthing center, but now has issues that go beyond those a peer counselor can address. This session will address the professional challenges common to all PPLCs, whatever their work or cultural setting. Legal and ethical issues will be addressed -- and practice tips will be offered that can be implemented immediately.
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About the lecture: Around the world, private practice lactation consultants (PPLCs) fill a gap: providing skilled lactation care for the mother who has left the hospital or birthing center, but now has issues that go beyond those a peer counselor can address. Lactation problems today are complex: rising C-section rates; babies being born (and discharged) earlier; mothers (with NICU babies) who are exclusively pumping; babies with anatomical variations; short maternity leaves; maternal history of infertility and low-supply. And most PPLCs operate alone. This session will address the professional challenges common to all PPLCs, whatever their work or cultural setting. Legal and ethical issues will be addressed -- and practice tips will be offered that can be implemented immediately.

About the lecturer: Liz Brooks, JD, IBCLC, FILCA, is a lactation consultant in working in private practice and a lawyer. She is familiar by training and experience with the array of challenges faced by lactation consultants each day. As an IBCLC, Liz has worked in: private practice; a hospital setting; a non-profit, community-based breastfeeding clinic (providing IBCLC service to mothers on a sliding fee scale). Liz currently serves as the Secretary on the Board of Directors of the International Lactation Consultant Association and she remains active in her local ILCA chapter PRO-LC. She was awarded the designation of Fellow of the International Lactation Consultant Association (FILCA) in 2008, the inaugural year for the program. Being a leader in the professional association for IBCLCs lets Liz share her expertise in corporate governance and policy-development -- but she always keeps an eye on how organizational decisions will trickle down to the day-to-day, working IBCLC. Liz declares a potential competing interest in that she is the author of a CD-R of privacy documents for IBCLCs in the USA that comply with HIPAA regulations.