Presentation Information

Milk sharing: Comparative risks and biomedical ethics

• Speaker: Karleen Gribble , BRurSc(Hons), PhD
• Presentation Type:
• Duration: 60 Mins
• Credits: 1 CERP, 1 Nursing CEU, 1 CME, 0.1 Midwifery CEU, 1 Dietetic CEU

Abstract:

The advent of Internet forums that facilitate peer-to-peer human milk sharing has resulted in health authorities stating that sharing human milk is dangerous. There are risks associated with all forms of infant feeding, including breastfeeding and the use of manufactured infant formulas. Part one of this presentation will compare the risks of milk sharing with the risks of using infant formula and include suggestions for risk mitigation. The facilitation of peer-to-peer milk sharing via the Internet has proven challenging to many health professionals and organizations. Biomedical ethics can be used to explore medical dilemmas and find reasoned, consistent, and defensible solutions to moral problems. The principles of biomedical ethics--autonomy, veracity, beneficence, nonmaleficence, confidentiality, and justice--are applied to peer-to-peer milk sharing in the second part of this presentation. Application of these principles provides guidance to assist health workers to act ethically in their interactions with mothers and others around the peer sharing of milk