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A Standing Ovation for Kathleen Huggins: This is FUNNY!

7K views 70 replies 30 participants last post by  Viola 
#1 ·
Kathleen Huggins, author of "The Nursing Mother's Companion", is a friend and neighbor of mine. This story is way too funny.

Kathleen was at a local hospital waiting for an appointment with her doctor. She was kept waiting a very very very long time. The whole time, she had to stare at a giant poster for a formula company. She was really upset about it. Here she was in a professional health care establishment, in a Women's Health and Breast Care (or some such named) section, and they are pushing formula, even though the risk of breast cancer is reduced by nursing.

She saw the doctor, then on her way out got an urge and snuck the poster off the wall and took it with her.

Somebody saw her do it. And since they happened to overhear where she was headed next, the Head Honcho of the hospital tracked her down and called her at her next appointment! He told her she was in possession of stolen property and needed to return it. She said, basically, "That thing's an insult to your hospital and your patients and you should be ashamed." So he told her he was going to call the police! So here she was, driving around, running her errands with one eye on the rear view mirror, worried that she was going to get arrested for having a poster in her trunk! She said the man was totally ticked off and very serious in tone and manner.

Since this all started in her doctor's office, the next time she called about an appointment the secretary mentioned the poster to her, saying Mr. Big was still very upset and wanted her to bring it back when she came in. She replied, "Well, if he mentions it again, tell him I agree that I should be arrested, and that he SHOULD call the police. I would love to explain this to the press, who, by the way, I would contact without hesitation."

WooHoo, way to get feisty!
So I think this episode is over, but if it's not, I am gonna be the first one to give info to the press about the WHO code and the ethics of advertising formula in a health care environment. And of course, I promised to visit her in jail, tee-hee.
 
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#53 ·
oh yeah, and thankfully my doc is an ND and all of his kids were bf for 2+ years....no formula ads in his office!!!!!

I think any mama who is having a particularly hard day nursing would consider formula if it was readily available....consider, not necessarily act on it....

I know I did (considered) once or twice...but no formula for my babe. I am now more educated about the evils of ABM but not everyone is...
 
#55 ·
maybe she wasn't a troll but her constant debate over something so mundane mad her very trollish. And IMO someone who is serious about coming to forumes for support doesn't quit coming at the first sign of disagreement or bad blood.

As for Kathleen Huggins. I see nothing wrong with what she did. If it's that big of a deal I'm sure she would replace the damn poster with a more suitable one.
 
#56 ·
Actually the person who left here in a huff over this thread has brought it up at another site to "discuss" it, in a more "mixed" environment IYKWIM.

I figure that says enough and we should leave it at that.

I personally think discussions at one site should stay there, and if the same subject comes up elsewhere, then the two discussions should remain seperate..........but that's just me.


How's Kathleen doing BTW? Still got the garbage in her trunk?
 
#57 ·
Official apologies to the administration; I should've just pm'd a moderator (like when we had that guy a few years ago getting pervy pretending under various user names to be a mom nursing a twelve yr old, remember?)... altho' that just kinda struck me as sad & lonely, not 'official' trolldom. I felt sorry for him (and pity is not the usual emotion I feel for the specie. Energy leeches- ugh!)

Suse
 
#58 ·
I want to say that I agree with mom2ava. I am not a troll, either. I am a mother, a breastfeeding advocate, and do volunteer work with an organization that helps breastfeeding mothers. I am quite familiar with the unethical and sneaky marketing tactics of formula companies. I have read Milk, Money, and Madness, The Politics of Breastfeeding, and many other books about breastfeeding advocacy. I understand the WHO code.

That being said, I think, if this story is true, that what Ms. Huggins did was immature and unproductive. It was stealing. Comparing her action to that of Rosa Parks is laughable. Rosa Parks was practicing civil disobeidiance. She broke an unjust law. I am assuming that Kathleen Huggins does not believe that laws prohibiting theft are unjust. Comparing Rosa Parks' brave act to this little temper tantrum just doesn't fly with me. I can't imagine that she has changed the policy about posters at the clinic. I would wager that she has pissed them off and they may put up twice as many posters just to spite her now. I am quite certain that Ross or Mead Johnson will be happy to provide more.

Right or wrong, the clinic was doing nothing illegal by displaying that poster. The World Health Organization is not a governing body in the U.S. The Code is not law here.

I realize that Kathleen Huggins has probably done some real advocacy. This just isn't an example of it, IMO.
 
#59 ·
She was fed up and upset, and did something that a lot of us would like to do because she reached a breaking point. I think it was amusing, and even if it wasn't the "right" thing to do, I'm not going to sit in judgment of her. I can understand that there are those who don't like what she did, and everyone is free to state their opinions. However, I find the moral outraged expressed by the one poster to be out of line with the degree of the wrongdoing. This leads to the belief that ripping down a poster is equivalent to breaking into someone's home to steal, and I find that kind of thinking to be dangerous. I also do think that what Kathleen Huggins did could fall under the guise of civil disobedience if she believed she was doing something for higher moral purpose. It may not be right in the eyes of the law, but people have different beliefs as to what is right and wrong, and we're not necessarily going to agree that what Kathleen Huggins did was wrong (or right), no matter how it is put to us.

During the last election, Nevada had an initiative on the ballot to make gay marriages illegal, and many of my neighbors had signs in support of this measure. I found these signs insulting on several levels (they said protect marriage and showed a stylized diamond ring), and I was tempted to pull some of them up, but I didn't because ultimately I decided that was not a good way to respond. If I felt like abortion was wrong and I pulled down a poster for a family planning clinic that offered abortion services, I'd feel that I was doing something right even though I might be breaking a law.

On the subject of civil disobedience I have to say that Rosa Parks broke a law when she sat where she did on that bus. That it was an unjust law is a view shared by many people today, but people have different moral standards and not everyone would agree that it was unjust. To plenty of people at the time, what Rosa Parks did was wrong if for no other reason than she broke the law, and some people may think that there is no excuse for that. And other people didn't think there was a problem with that particular law, I'm sure. Sensibilities and moral standards have changed, and we now easily see that what she did was standing up for a higher moral purpose. What the cancer clinic was doing in displaying a formula poster is legal, certainly, but that doesn't mean it is morally ethical. I'm not comparing Huggins' actions to Parks' in intensity, but I think that their intent and reactions were similar. Given that I can make that comparison, I can then understand that there are those who would do the same type of comparison and say breaking the law is wrong no matter what. I acknowledge that.

The clinic personnel were perfectly within their rights to call the police. I would be surprised if the police or the courts thought this was an offense worth pursuing, however.
 
#61 ·
You can regard it as civil disobedience if you want, but it hardly compares to Rosa Park's actions, and I seriously doubt it did anything to promote breastfeeding advocacy.

I'm concerned about the overuse of antibiotics. Maybe the next time I'm at my doctor's office, I should rip down all the Zithromax calanders and steal all the Ceclor pens. That'll fix 'em!
 
#64 ·
Sorry, but even though what she was doing was for a good cause, it is still stealing. I mean, stealing isn't about what you take..it's the fact that you are taking something that doesn't belong to you. Ok, so she didn't go to the store with a big diaper bag and steal formula cans, but it is still stealing.
 
#65 ·
ALRIGHT ALREADY!!!! so, we all agree that she *stole* the stupid poster....

that isn't what this thread was about..it was about Katherine standing up for something she believed in...period! It was about how the doctors should not have had the poster in their office to begin with, it was about how little support bfing moms get...

This was supposed to be a humorous story (at least I took it that way), but now has become an ethics debate....why????
 
#66 ·
Because everyone has a different sense of humor. What I find funny, another may find apalling or morally reprehensible. S/He has that right. As do I.

That said, it was funny to me. But, I agree she was stealing and that was wrong. The funniest part being that that man called her and asked her to bring it back. And that she clarified things before going back for another appointment.

She's got balls. Most thieves do.

(that's respect you're reading...
)
 
#67 ·
Quote:
Originally posted by Chaka Falls


She's got balls. Most thieves do.
Shouldn't that be ovaries?:LOL
 
#68 ·
My thoughts exactly Jane


Or is it gonads?? don't gonads include both the male and female variety?

To paraphrase the David Bowie song Ziggy Stardust, "She was the nads!"
 
#71 ·
warm up: La La La
clearing throat and taking breath
In my best Javert and Valjean impersonation:

Now bring me prisoner 24601, your time is up and your parole's begun. Do you know what that means?
Yes, it means I'm freeeee.
No! It means you get your yellow ticket of leave, you are a thief--
I stole a loaf of bread
You robbed a house!
I broke a window paaaane...My sister's child was close to death, we were starving--
And you'll starve again unless you learn the meaning of the law
I know the meaning of those 19 years, a slaaaave of the lawr.


And so on
Not enough for a copyright violation.

Hmmm, maybe next time I'm in the OB's office I'll steal that Enfamil sign up sheet. I'm not a stranger to breaking the law--I took a pen home from my last job.
 
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