Thursday, September 27, 2007

A Victory for Breastfeeding Moms

Moms juggle all kinds of things on a daily basis, but taking a 9 hour medical exam and breastfeeding a 4-month old at the same time? That's tough.

So I applaud Sophie C. Currier, 33, of Brookline, Mass. who sued the National Board of Medical Examiners for more time during her medical licensing exam to pump or feed. She got an extra 60 minutes added to the standard 45 minute break time she would have normally had, aruging that she shouldn't have to choose between using her break time to "incompletely express breast milk and ignore her bodily functions, or abdicate her decision to express breast milk, resulting in significant pain.” Way to keep at your dream of medical school and being a good mom.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Some facts:

1) She failed the same test in April.

2) The NBME already went out of their way to accomodate her. They are giving her twice the time to complete the test and a private testing room. Try taking a 9 hour intense exam with other people taking typing tests around you like the other 3000 of us did.

3) The USMLE is a STANDARDIZED test to assess a minimum compentency to assure that you have enough base knowledge to practice medicine and not harm your patients. If you don't pass, then the exam is doing what it was intended to. Preventing somebody without a core knowledge of medicine to practice medicine on people who's lives depend on your knowledge.


So when the surgeon can't get a pathology report on the margins of a cancer they are resecting and the patient dies on the table, who is going to be supporting her when her excuse is "I needed to breast feed at that moment, otherwise my engorged breast would hurt and I could get mastitis."