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SJC: Breastfeeding mothers must be accommodated during medical licensing exams
Breast-feeding mothers are protected under state law and special accommodation must be made for women who need to take a break from medical licensing exams in order to properly care for their child, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled today.
?Our decision . . . recognizes that there remain barriers that prevent new mothers from being able to breast-feed or express breast milk,?? Chief Justice Roderick Ireland wrote.
Ireland then wrote for the unanimous court: ?We take this opportunity to extend protection to lactating mothers in the context of lengthy testing required for medical licensure.??
The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by Sophie Currier, who in 2007 needed to sit for an exam so that she could begin a medical residency at Massachusetts General Hospital. She was breast-feeding her child when she sat for a portion of the National Board of Medical Examiners? test in June 2007 and was refused time away from the exam, or a place, to pump breast milk.
According to the SJC, the Board of Medical Examiners told Currier that she was entitled to an accommodation because she had been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, which qualified her under the American with Disabilities Act for changes in testing schedule.
The board initially said breast-feeding did not qualify as a reason for altering the rules for her test-taking, but eventually agreed to some changes that included time limits of 20 minutes and 25 minutes for breast-pumping.
Currier refused their suggestions, but did take the test, and also filed the lawsuit that included medical experts saying breast-feeding mothers need at least 45 minutes to concentrate solely on pumping breast milk. It was that lawsuit the SJC decided today.
In the 32-page ruling, the court threw out Currier?s allegation that the board?s actions violated her civil rights under federal and state law. The court said there was no evidence of coercion, the legal standard Currier had to meet in order to sustain her civil rights claim.
The court, however, said she may have provided enough information that her equal rights were violated because male test takers were given 45 minutes to take a full break during the nine-hour test while lactating mothers had to use that time for breast-feeding. That issue, the SJC said, must be decided by a lower court.
But the SJC said it is clear that breast-feeding mothers must be accommodated in future medical education tests.
?We emphasize that our conclusion is based on a set of unique facts, including the fact that a lactating mother was required (or faced adverse professional consequences) to be present at the place of public accommodation for a lengthy period of time (nine consecutive hours), and takes into account the fact that the [Board of Medical Examiners] did not make any showing that it could not reasonably accommodate Currier?s need without incurring undue hardship (such as, for example, incurring exorbitant or unrecoverable costs associated with providing a private room with an electrical outlet for women to express breast milk),?? Ireland wrote.
John R. Ellement can be reached at ellement@globe.com.
Re: SJC: Breastfeeding mothers must be accommodated during medical licensing exams
45 minutes are needed to pump?!?
Anyway I am glad that they realize this is an accomodation that needs to be made.
That struck me as long, too, but I'm assuming that's time leaving the room to time returning. I used to have to pump for a full 20 minutes, and when I'd do it at conferences where I had to walk to my car or the bathroom and back, along with a few minutes for setting up and packing up, it probably was about 45 minutes for everything.
*nods*
Normally, I can do it in about 25 min flat (at my desk - set up, pack up, etc.) If I need to do it twice a day, then 45 minutes sounds about right for two pumping sessions.
She already had extended time and 2 other breaks. Asking for 3 more 45 minute breaks sounded bizarre.
When I was pumping, it took me 45 minutes easily to pump with my own pump and I only got 2 or 3 ounces. If I used a hospital grade pump I could do it in 15 but those are big and bulky and expensive to rent. I think my body reponds unusually poorly to pumps though.
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From pen down to picking it up again, including trying to have a letdown while you're in the middle of an exam, I can see it.
As someone who took intense 3 day comps., it's not like she's suddenly going to become a genius during that 45 minute break. She either knows her stuff or she doesn't. So, if the AMA wants to encourage breast feeding, I can't imagine any reason why they wouldn't give her this break.
I needed to plan 45 minutes.
10 minutes walk to the lac room. 20 to pump. 5 to rinse the pump with hot water and put milk in the fridge. 10 minutes to walk back.
Every three hours if I wanted to get 12 oz during a 9-10 hour work day.
I pump at school during my half hour break between classes. I leave the lab portion of my first class 10 minutes early, and I'm sometimes 1-2 minutes late for my second class. Luckily my professor has a young son and was a nursing, working mother herself recently, and understands. 45 minutes seems reasonable.
I can imagine let-down might take longer in this kind of stressful test situation.
Is there only one 45 minute break in a nine-hour test? If so, I don't think most nursing mothers could go that long without being in pain.
Taking an important exam while in physical pain that she can't relieve puts her at a disadvantage. So, if she has a physical situation that makes the test-taking more difficult for her than it is for others and needs extra time (spent pumping) to remedy that difficulty, how is it all that different from getting extra time to accommodate learning disabilities?
Oh, that is fantastic. This...this is wine. Yeah. Look what all these idiots are drinking. Look at these dicks! Obviously it's not really delicious, like hot chocolate or Coke, but for wine...brilliant.
It takes me at least 15 minutes just to get the milk out, not counting any setup or cleanup.
All women are different. I don't think 45 minutes is unreasonably long.
I was the same way... I could easy get 15oz in 10 minutes of pumping both sides at the same time, but I know a lot of women struggle to get 3oz in 20 minutes.
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