News article

Harvard Medical Student denied accommodation for breastfeeding

June 23, 2007

(Boston) Administrators for a required board examination have told Sophie Currier, a Harvard Medical School graduate, that she has to make a choice: complete her medical training, or breastfeed her new baby.

According to a report in The Boston Globe, exam administrators won’t allow her extra break time to express milk during the test, because breastfeeding is not a disability, according to the Americans with Disabilities Act.

This logic misses the point, said Dr. Melissa Bartick, an internist and chair of the Massachusetts Breastfeeding Coalition. “Breastfeeding is normal and necessary for healthy mothers and healthy babies,” Bartick said. “Nursing mothers need to express milk every two to three hours. The medical profession should be leading by example.”

The USMLE is required to earn a medical license. Other professional exams, including the Bar Exam that is required for lawyers, allow nursing mothers break time to express milk.

“It’s deeply ironic that the Bar Exam accommodates nursing mothers, but the USMLE does not,” said Dr. Alison Stuebe, an obstetrician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “Apparently, lawyers know more about maternal-child health than doctors.”