Re: Nursing Mother Goes to Court for Exam Time
From: Meenan, Anna (annam@uic.edu)
Tue Sep 11 12:53:34 2007
Deborah, in a woman's world, would you want this young woman reading
your pap smear or your breast biopsy someday? She herself said "I'm
not a fact holder." "The biggest thing is distraction."
http://www.talentdevelop.com/articles/HyperGU.html
Anna Meenan, MD
>Women are always so proud of how they make it fit in a man's world.
>
>II'm glad someone is trying to make a woman's world.
>
>Deborah Bopp
>RN, MS
>Perinatal Clinical Nurse Specialist
>Memorial Health System
>Colorado Springs, Colorado
>80919
>719-365-5080
>Pg 279-0347
>deborah.bopp@memoriahealthsystem.com
>
> "Meenan, Anna"
><annam@uic.edu>
>
> Sent by: ob-gyn-l@obgyn.net
>To
>
>Multiple recipients of list OB-GYN-L
><ob-gyn-l@dns.obgyn.net>
>
>cc
> 09/10/2007 03:38
>PM
>
>Subject
>
>Re: Nursing Mother Goes to Court for Exam
>Time
> Please respond
>to
>
>ob-gyn-l@obgyn.net
>
>having a lively discussion of this one over at
>sermo.com (and BTW, some of you never signed up
>using the e-mail link i sent you. Still need 3
>more to get my ipod--there is still time to sign
>up)
>
>There are links there to articles with more
>information about this young woman. I am a
>staunch breastfeeding advocate and breastfed 2 of
>my 3 kids while working full time, many days with
>only a few minutes to pump. I am just wondering
>if she is going to expect her pathology residency
>to give her an extra hour to pump every day. LOL
>That should be interesting.
>
>Anna Meenan, MD, FAAFP
>
>>.
>>
>>Nursing Mother Goes to Court for Exam Time
>>
>>By ELIZABETH OLSON [New York Times]
>>
>>One test stands between Sophie Currier and her Harvard medical degree and a
>>prestigious residency.
>>
>>But Ms. Currier says she runs a high risk of failing the test unless the
>>National Board of Medical Examiners gives her additional break time to pump
>>breast milk for her 4-month-old daughter.
>>
>>The board has refused the request, and on Thursday, Ms. Currier asked a
>>Massachusetts Superior Court judge to order it to give her extra time on each
>>of two days of testing, plus a private room with a power outlet so she can
> >express her milk in private with an electric pump. (The nine-hour exam, on
>>clinical knowledge, allows 45 minutes for breaks.)
>>
>>The case, to be heard on Wednesday, is a harbinger of what could be a growing
>>problem. More women than ever are studying medicine, and they must take three
>>exams to become doctors. At the same time, groups like the American
>>Academy of
>>Pediatrics strongly encourage breast-feeding for its health and developmental
>>benefits.
>>
>>Ms. Currier, 33, of Brookline, Mass., wrote to the medical
>>examiners' board in
>>June to request the extra time, saying she
>>needed to pump milk to avoid painful
>>breast engorgement and mastitis, an infection
>>stemming from blocked milk ducts.
>>
>>In a letter dated July 11, Catherine Farmer, the board's manager of
>>disability
>>services, responded that it could accommodate only conditions covered by the
>>Americans With Disabilities Act. She added that
>>Ms. Currier could spend some of
>>her break time pumping breast milk in another testing room. Testing rooms are
>>monitored and have glass walls.
>>
>>Ms. Farmer said on Friday that the board's privacy policy prohibited it from
>>commenting on individual cases.
>>
>>Ms. Currier, who holds a doctorate in neuroscience from Harvard, has received
>>some accommodation from the board for dyslexia and attention deficit
>>hyperactivity disorder. She can take the nine-hour test over two days instead
>>of one, but she is seeking an additional 60-minute break on each day.
>>
>>Dr. Alison Stuebe, a physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital in
>>Boston and a
>>member of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, supported Ms. Currier's
>>request in an affidavit filed with the court.
>>
>>"Forty-five minutes," Dr. Stuebe wrote, "is insufficient time for a nursing
>>mother of a 4-month-old to eat, drink, use the restroom and to fully and
>>properly express breast milk using an electric pump two times over the course
>>of eight hours."
>>
>>If Ms. Currier is forced to delay taking the exam, "it will cause her
>>significant hardship" by delaying her ability to earn a living and to begin
>>repaying school loans, and possibly leading to the loss of clinical knowledge
>>and skills, Dr. Stuebe said.
>>
>>Ms. Currier said she was already feeling pressure because she took
>>the test in
>>April, when she was eight months' pregnant, and failed it by a few
>>points. She
>>has been offered a residency in clinical pathology at Massachusetts General
>>Hospital in November, but cannot accept it unless she passes this test, which
>>she plans to take on Sept. 15.
>>
>>"This should be as simple as ducking into the bathroom to pump the
>>milk," said
>>Ms. Currier, who is feeding her daughter breast milk exclusively.
>>
>>http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/10/health/10breast.html?ref=health
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