Breastfeeding medical student asks for more time on tests

Posted on Sep 10th 2007 3:00PM by Bethany Sanders

Filed Under: Diet & Weight Loss, Celebs & Entertainment, Nutrition & Supplements

Though breastfeeding is recommended as the safest and most nutritious way to feed a baby, social standards often don't reflect that fact, nor do they always encourage breastfeeding in general. Take, for instance, the case of Sophie Currier, who has a doctorate from Harvard, and is poised to begin her medical residency. However, before she can, she needs to complete a 9-hour test. The problem? She's breastfeeding her infant daughter. Because going for that long of a period of time without pumping or nursing would cause her considerable discomfort and put her health at risk, Currier is asking the National Board of Examiners for extra breaks so that she can use an electric pump. The board will only allow accommodations for those with disabilities and says that breastfeeding does not fall into that category. Currier has since asked the court to intervene in the issue.

What do you think? Has the board made a reasonable decision, or should Currier and other women like her who want to practice medicine be allowed time to address breastfeeding during the test?

(edits noted)

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Tags: breastfeeding, breastfeeding accommodations, BreastfeedingAccommodations, Sophie Currier, SophieCurrier

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

CW 9-10-2007 @ 10:15PM

She should definitely get more breaks so she can pump her milk. I believe most jobs give you the chance to pump while you're at work. I don't think school should be any different. I know if I wait too long I feel like I'm going to explode. It does not feel good at all.

Dr.J 9-11-2007 @ 10:32AM

I'm assuming that she has completed medical school by the statement that she is beginning her residency. I think with all her knowledge she might have considered having a child after her residency. Being a mother is important and a residency takes a tremendous amount of time and energy. Perhaps she needs to pospone her residency a year. Just a thought.

Jeremie Gallien 9-12-2007 @ 11:05AM

Hi! My name is Jeremie Gallien, and I am Sophie Currier's partner. Thank you for your thoughts about Sophie's situation. Obviously I am very affected by it myself and thus hardly neutral, but I still thought I'd share a couple of comments. The first is a factual correction: the fact that Sophie will be taking her exam over two days of _testing time_ instead of one was granted to her long ago on the basis of extensively documented and duly diagnosed severe learning disabilities, is unrelated to her request for additional _break time_ for expressing milk, and constitutes even less a compromise proposed by the USMLE following that request. It only compounds her breast-feeding problem, because she needs to worry about it for two consecutive 9h long exams instead of one. In case you're wondering (legimitately) whether people with this type of learning disabilities should be put in charge of patients' care I'll just point out that her disability primarily has to do with rapid reading and writing abilities, and that she got many A's and A+'s in her clinical rotations involving patient care at Harvard Medical School. Another comment I have relative to Dr. J's suggestion is that invidividuals interested and gifted for clinical research such as Sophie (she has a PhD in neuroscience from Harvard and many publications) must go through long studies for their training. Given residency programs last several years, postponing having children to after their entire training is completed may commonly push women in her case to age-related pregnancy problems. This was part of our thinking anyway, and we're prepared as a family to support Sophie through her residency (you can imagine this has many implications for me as the father of her children). But we never thought (and to this day still don't understand why) a simple request for some break time would face so much resistance from the Board!

Chris 9-13-2007 @ 12:08PM

I read with interest the New York Times article on Ms. Currier.

I am board certified in anatomic and clinical pathology with subspecialty certification in cytology/fine needle aspiration. I am a partner in a private pathology practice. I am the only woman in my group. (By the way, I have three children that I delivered at ages 32,38 and 40). I passed all USMLE and specialty board exams at the first sitting. I have never asked for or recieved special accomidations.

Now for the zinger- from what I've read, I believe Ms. Currier is a marginal student (failed USMLE part 2)who has been babied and coddled her entire life. She has reached maturity believing that the world revolves around her. As I said this is "my belief."

Having a child is a personal decision, not a professional one. Issues such as child care (including feeding) should not be part of the professional arena. Perhaps a career in medicine was not the best choice for Ms. Currier.

Nick 9-14-2007 @ 10:30PM

I have read and followed this story carefully, and as a pathologist in training at a high-powered institution, I would generally agree with Chris. My family emigrated to the US just before I turned 10, so English is not my first language. As a result, my MCAT score suffered because I could not read fast enough. Nevertheless, I worked extremely hard in college and received acceptances from a number of excellent medical schools. Would Ms. Currier support foreigners like myself to receive extra time on my examinations because English is not our first language? This would only seem fair. Just an opinion...

Sam 9-20-2007 @ 6:16PM

This situation typifies elitism. Ms. Currier has been given accommodations her entire life. Many medical students with children have overcome greater struggles to successfully graduate. This student is acting like a spoiled child because she cannot get her own way. Frankly, she was lucky to get into the MD/PhD program; a quick look at Pubmed suggest she was NOT very productive as a graduate student and she does not have many publicaitons - contrary to what her partner posted.

Johnec 10-16-2007 @ 6:52AM

I find this issue very disturbing. Ms. Currier has made her way through MIT by others reading her assignments to her and sharing their notes. Is this how she will nevigate through her professional career as well? She is already given two days to take a test that other must take in one day.

As a researcher- I would expect that a critical thinker would develop solutions to issues- not have others solve the problems for them. She appears to have a very long record of accomodations.This track record is obvious. She could never work in an environment where people can't subsidise her inadiquacies nor could she work on projects with timelines.

A small person may want to be a professional basketball player but limitations may prohibit that. Ms. Currier would ask for the basketball rim to be lowered. A large person may want to be a jockey but limitations may prohibit that. Ms Currier would ask that larger horses by used by all jockies.

Unfortunately Ms Currier- the position you covet may require a higher level of intellect and critical problem solving skills than you pocess. Move on to another field.

Flintstone 9-20-2007 @ 9:25PM

They should revoke her medical license! Who wants a neurotic psychopathic loony loser b---- working on our children and families! BURN THE WITCH!

Joyce Victory 9-21-2007 @ 2:25PM

My daughter-in-law has breastfed all three of her children. She has never requested anything in the way of "extras" from anyone. It was her choice and she worked around it. Miss Currier chose to have a child and chose to breastfeed that child. Now she needs to chose to wait until she can take the test in the same time frame as the rest of the testees. Too bad she didn't "chose" to marry the father of her child. I hope she intends to go into research. I would hate to have someone this selfish and disorganized trying to treat me.

jaibee 9-26-2007 @ 10:40PM

OK,
If I am reading correctly, she is supposed to start residency in November. My question is, "What accomodations are going to given during residency, or will the baby be weaned by then, and if so, why not wean them before the exam, or, do as most people and prepare by having pumped milk already for the baby?"
The key word here is PREPARE...many people actually do this, they plan in ADVANCE!

Also, the baby is 4 months old...What do you do all night? Do you wake up every 2-3 hours all night and nurse? Or do you, like most 4 month olds, go for 6-7 hours at night.

Most every body I know has a baby sleeping 6, 7, 8, hours at night by 4 months old. So it is possible to go longer periods of time without pumping.

What is going on here??????
I, for one am embarrasssed that breastfeeding support groups are taking up this cause!!!!!!!!

We are talking about ONE DAY for god's sake (or 2 days if you are ADHD) Jesus, cannot you make other accomodations, instead of having everybody have to accomodate YOU???? Or is everything about YOU YOU YOU???

lynn 9-30-2007 @ 2:01PM

Sophie needs to get a clue. As a radiologist who has also completed a fellowship and has been in private practice for 12 years, I can tell you that her professional life is not going to get any easier. She must have been heavily subsidized by her family in order to to get where she is now. How the heck did she get into all these expensive and supposedly competitive schools/programs? Is she a legacy or something? By the way, the specialty board exams are a lot harder than USMLE Part II. If she knew what was going on during her clinical rotations, that exam should have been no problem whatsoever. She couldn't possibly hold a job in a private group practice. She would get canned so fast her head would spin. That special treatment crap just doesn't fly. Everyone else has their own problems to deal with. Real problems. Harvard really did a disservice by wasting that medical school position.

Mike 9-28-2007 @ 1:05PM

I'm a medical student with duly diagnosed ADHD. Despite my marked tendency to wander, I've learned to work around my disability and not let it hinder me. I've asked for no concessions, and I've asked for no favors. I've just worked my butt off (while being a husband and a parent, as well) and have outperformed the vast majority of my classmates (and, judging from my Step 1 score, the vast majority of American medical students). And I took the exam in one day.

The Board offered to let Sophie take the exam in a room all by herself so should could express milk as needed, and I think that's a fair compromise. What makes her so special, to think that she deserves favors and concessions that no other medical student gets? Does she think she's the first ADHD/dyslexia/breastfeeding medical student to come face-to-face with the boards? Or is she just part of an entitlement-obsessed generation whose selfishness has reached epidemic proportions? Judging from the concessions she required in order to complete college, med school, Step 1, and now Step 2, it is my firmly held opinion that despite her intelligence, she does not possess the qualities and capabilities required by the medical profession. The medical profession should not be required to lower its standards just because she wants in.

mermision 10-06-2007 @ 2:45PM

The general consensus appears to be that Sophie should not be entitled to extra time for either Disability or Motherhood. This is based on the premise that 'everyone should suffer as i suffered...i had to compromise so why shouldn't others'

What you suffered, lynn, jaibee, chris...you CHOSE to suffer and you chose to compromise. You chose NOT to access assistance that you were entitled to...this is not the rest of the worlds problem. What does become a global problem is when people like you attempt to thwart the potential success of others out of envy and jealousy. Your personal issues should be considered in therapy before they manifest themselves as neurosis.

I am duly shocked and dismayed that in a world where men and women alike are attempting to create more egalitarian social and public structures, there are people like you undermining this. Should a woman with a family attaining success without compromising the health and wellbeing of her family and with the support of her employer be the exception or the norm? We only need to look at a country like Sweden, at a corporation like Eriksson to see the beginning of possibility.

I am duly disgusted by the lack of knowledge people claiming to be in the medical profession display about the benefits of breastfeeding socially, neurologically, cognitively, the duration of breastfeeding time needed to attain these benefits as well as the implications on maternal and infant bonding and, again, the body of research supporting this. You would take care to look at epidemiological evidence before making such comments that only display your ignorance and serve to undermine your credibility. One persons experience is not a legitimate representation and should never be treated as such...or was statistics optional at your university...

'My daughter in law...' 'I had to...' 'I didn't receive...'

I don't think I need to expound on the issue of disabilities as the same holds true.