I am not ambivalent toward Sophie's brave fight for all female medical students and residents who take the USMLE during their reproductive years. It is also part of the fight to give all women, regardless of their careers, adequate legal protections to continue to lactate when they return to work. It is time to pass Rep. Carolyn Maloney's Breastfeeding promotion act that offers protections for pumping in the workplace (See link: <link> so all of us tired working moms won't have to try to duke this out in the blogosphere.

1. It's break time not test time:
The recent ruling does not give Sophie more time to take the test. It will give her the additional and necessary amount of break time to meet the physiologic needs of her body and that of her infant.

Adequate break times for pumping are not an unfair advantage:
The NBME already has policies in place to make sure that breaks do not affect test performance (ie: you can't change answers when you come back in the room from a break). Besides, pumping doesn't make you smarter. It will make Sophie and all future lactating women a whole heck of a lot more comfortable during and after the exam.

2. Being a slow reader doesn't make someone dumb.
Not passing boards by a few points does not mean you're dumb. It usually means you're not the best test taker. People with dyslexia are often poor test takers.

Boards are just one piece of certifying that someone is competent to be a physician. From the admissions process on, medical students are constantly observed and evaluated. "Crap doctors" don't get admitted to Harvard, let alone graduate in seven year with both MD and Ph.D. degrees.

3. Specialty medical boards accomodates lactation breaks during certification examinations - why won't the NBME? The NBME would rather stand by a blatently sexist policy than open themselves up to the possibility that they might have to accomodate commone-sense non-ADA-protected health issues (like pregnancy, lactation, inflammatory bowel disease, etc). So they supercharge the issue by making it seem like a matter of "public safety." As a physician and lactating mother, I resent their implication that lactating students are out to cheat the system.

4. Hate to break it to all the "would you have a doctor with ADHD?" people, but doctors have all sorts of health problems and disabilities --- like depression, anxiety, ADHD/ADD, heart disease, etc. All kinds of people make good doctors, and doctors are good at picking specialties that match their dispositions and abilities.

5. And now about all the mean, offensive comments about Sophie and her baby? Who are you people? I hope that when you and your loved ones are in need of health care, you will have a qualified health care professional to take care of you who will show you more compassion and understanding than you have shown to a complete stranger.

YES! I agree with you wholeheartedly. I am shocked by the number of people who seem to think extra break time is the end of the world, particularly the number of other breastfeeding moms taking the "I sucked it up, so should you" line. Thanks for you big strong voice!

I had decided ou of high to work instead of going to school. I got pregnant, very unplanned, shortly after landing a retail assistant managment position. My manager, who was female, was infertile. Throughout my oregnancy i was expected to perform as if not pregnant, i.e. written up for bathroom breaks due to morning sickness and that pesky 'pregnant bladder'. I was climbing a ladder until I was six months along. Not a step stool. a seven foot ladder, to change displays. Any offers by other co workers to do it for me was shut up with 'It was part of her job description when she was hired. She'll do her job and you can do yours, or not be here.'

I complained, but she was not replaced until after I had returned to work, from my 6 week non paid leave. And at first she did not want to grant me pumping breaks. Until one memorable day when, after my breast swelled to a painful size due to a 'missed' feeding, a customer came in with an infant. who began to wail. And my chest became not just wet, but almost dripping. I just smiled sweetly to my mananger. she let me pump when i needed to from that ay on. No one wants to look at a breast milk leaking woman.

The idea that so many would still look down on another person circumstance and even worse, treat them so poorly when all she was asking for was some consideration for what would have been a literally painful time for her. I would leaked all over the room. Groos, but at least it would have driven the point home. Lactation isn't always voluntary. If the body is not accomodated, the woman is going to HURT and the others in the room will be made extremely uncomfortable.

Lesson: women who don't want kids are too focused on their career aspirations and are therefore somehow inferior.

This is an amazing display of inverted feminism...we must make special arrangements for the uterus, because it must bear children.

It's sad that you're reading this this way.

I agree with Isonomist.

Thank you so much, cremina87, for making the point so eloquently and concisely. Three cheers.
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PS: I couldn't get to that link. Is there another one? This issue is really important to me, and I would like to call my representatives about it.

Thanks, and thanks for letting me know the link didn't work. I may not have done it properly but you should be able to copy this address and then paste it into your browser address bar. If that doesn't work google up Caroloyn Maloney (NY, House of Rep). Her site came up as the first one on the google list tonight. Go to the "My work in congress" selection on the left sidebar on her site. Select "issues and legislation." Scroll down to the bottom and under the Working Families section click on "Breastfeeding".

This first address takes you to the breastfeeding page:
<link>

This address takes you specifically to a table with information on the breastfeeding promotion act. There are only 28 sponsors so there is a lot of work to do to get this thing passed. Click on the sponsor list and see if your rep is there.
<link>