Infant Formula Giveaways General Hospital has been serving its community for mor

Infant Formula Giveaways
General Hospital has been serving its community for more than 100 years. While its patient population has changed substantially over the years to one that is more demographically diverse, the hospital is still relied upon by the community to provide a full range of health care services. It is in a large city in the West, with the majority of the patient population is poor, underinsured, or undocumented.
To patients who are new mothers, General Hospital has been distributing infant formula samples for many years to women upon discharge from the maternity ward. From all accounts, this service is highly valued among community members and widely regarded as not only successful but essential to easing the financial burden of having a new baby to care for.
Dr Carson is a family physician who just started at General Hospital 9 months ago. She saw it as a place where she could help address health disparities by delivering quality prenatal and postnatal care to a vulnerable and underserved patient population. With that in mind, she raises a concern at the next ob-gyn department meeting: “Given the widely documented benefits of breastfeeding, I don’t think we should continue to distribute infant formula samples. Continuing to distribute the formulas primarily serves the needs of the breastmilk substitute companies rather than our patients. It is against the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative and against guidelines by the WHO and the American Academy of Pediatrics. Our patient population might be particularly prone to misleading marketing of formula. But when the samples run out, then what?”
Dr Santos, the department chair, wonders how best to address this difference in professional opinion and the needs of the community members she and her colleagues serve. On the one hand, she feels it is important to promote breastfeeding. On the other hand, she doesn’t want to shame mothers for their choice to bottle-feed. Breastfeeding isn’t for every mother. Some women choose it for legitimate reasons. Would banning this practice undermine their freedom to decide which works best for their family?
View the Infant Formula Giveaways and answer the following question.
What would you do if you were Dr. Santos? Please explain your decision on the discussion board below.