NEWS: The Squeaky Wheel Gets the Breastmilk Lube

CULTURE: The Squeaky Wheel Gets the Breastmilk Lube

Some of you might remember this post, about the med student who was suing to get the Medical Examiners Board to allow her time to pump breast milk during her exams.

Well, guess what. The first judge ruled against her, it's now been overturned, and the MEB is planning to appeal. At this rate, the baby will of course be in med school herself by the time it's all over, but with luck the latest judge's ruling will stand.

As he put it,

That's it exactly. The judge goes on to explain, for those who don't get how intuitively obvious that statement is, that

In other words, it's not about the baby, it's not about being a mommy, it's not about whining, it's not about wanting special privileges.

It's about a bodily function. Which, by the grace of god, Cthulhu, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, or the impersonal forces of evolution and sexual reproduction, is one that women have and men don't, and that may women never experience.

But those that do are still human beings, with the same right to equal treatment as everyone else. Failing to accommodate them is akin to failing to accommodate people's needs to pee, or eat, or fulfull ay other necessary bodily function.

The only difference is that this bodily function belongs to women. If it didn't, every public building and office in the developed world would have nursing rooms.

Don't even get Bitch_PhD started about the lack of changing tables in a lot of public buildings and in men's rooms. Though this has started getting better since significant numbers of men started taking care of babies, too. Go figure.

20 minutes? They are going through all this hassle over 20 minutes for her to pump? They need to get their priorities straight...

It's this kind of thing that has caused me to postpone childbearing until after graduation.
But I guess she had no choice but to get pregnant in the middle of med school.

I can but shake my head and a) continue to thank chance that I'm not female and b) mourn a lost pre-organised religious world of morality that celebrated women as the mother of our children. Instead, a couple thousand years later we're still paying for the legacy of women as sinners and whores that religious doctrines have left us.

I got nothing against titties or the beverages women can produce. Hell, my favorite shot, the Fun Bag, features human breast milk...

... but can't she just pump while she's taking care of other bodily functions? Two birds, one stone? I think this is exactly what Jesus would do.

On the other hand, I'm sure the other students wouldn't mind an extra 20-minute break!

Uh, would you want to feed your child something prepared while you were taking a piss or a shit? That is not only disgusting, it's also extremely unhygienic.

You do realize that it takes a minimum of about 11 years to become a physician... should life be completely put on hold during this time? Especially since it is common knowledge that a woman's fertility begins to decrease at age 25, and gets lower every year after. Not to mention that it would probably be easier to deal with night feedings and such while still in school, with a somewhat regular schedule, then while completing residency, or after becoming a full fledged doctor, with screwed up hours, and being on call...

What a ridiculous and judgemental thing to say.

Well, I mean if she actually wanted to HAVE kids yes.
In north america the amount of time it takes to become a dr. is REDICULOUS! I'm sorry it should NOT take 10 years to become a Dr. I have been informed that our friends across the ocean in places like india and the UK have shorter amounts of time to become a Dr. That said, it could also use to have alot less "class room" time and more practical work aswell. I am sure we could shorten the whole thing by removing courses that have nothing to do with their profession, like maths and basic sciences, make their courses teach the math and basic science portions that they need within themselves etc.


I hate our schooling system, can't you tell?

so what are the guide lines for special circumstances for bodily functions? I have to [any number of things] how do we respect everyone. Is it not the american way to demand more in light of what others get? How do you flat standard and accomidate all no matter what gender the needs they have?

I agree though, whats a pause, in the standard time it takes her to do her test? As long as her time is equal with all the others in total amount. Though everyone else should then get a boidly function break that they can take at any time during the test. Thats fair for everyone. Of course this is exculding the manditory break in the middle of the test. Though this only covers a normal smaller period of time, there would have to be second functions like chronic pants shitting. I imagine that would really skew a persons focus.

thats how I would do it

whatever clinda..she should just do the responsible thing and have her kids when she's retired.

whoa, what a crazy glitch!

wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Still waiting for somebody to say how much break time they were allotted during the 9 hour test. If there was only, say 20 or 30 minutes break time altogether, then fine, give her an extra break. But if there was more like an hour of scheduled break time, then that should be plenty of time to do her business.

I'll laugh if she fails the test anyway =p

Yeah, everyone knows you should be able to do whatever you want all the time with no consequences.

Good gravy! As a pro-choice advocate I share this observation. Way to go Rampage!

All choices come with consequences. Good or bad.

Nobody rides for free
Nobody gets it like they want it to be
Nobody hands you any guarantee
Nobody

-Jackson Browne

exactly. accidents happen to plenty of people who would never have an abortion, and not everyone wants to wait until they are 39 to have a child. i think helping pregnant women or women with kids become doctors or lawyers or whatever they want (with onsite daycare, student medical care, etc) is a good thing.

i think that she should have spoken to the professor before the class and made accommodation's on her own behalf. some people get migraines, it doesn't excuse or allow them to have more time for a test.


she just should have said,"hey i need to use a breast pump, can i start the test when I'm done" thats reasonable....

i kinda don't understand what the problem is here....the women had 45 minutes of break time......i don't get why she wouldn't have the time to pump, eat, and do whatever other bodily functions she had to do in that time... it only takes about 20 min. to pump, clean, and put away. even if it took her 30 wouldn't she still have 15 min to do whatever else she needed. ok, i understand it's stressfull to have to fufill those tasks with a time restraint BUT isn't it stressful being a doctor and a full time mother?? this is one day. it's not like she's working a 9 hour day, 5 days a week and doesn't have ample break time. it's one day! how often do you *if you do pump* have to miss a second pumping session during work hours because of work deadines?.....i do, often. i don't understand what the big deal is...

"Currier already had received special accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act for dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, including permission to take the test over two days instead of one."

"She took the exam in April when she was 8 1/2 months pregnant, but failed by a few points. She had planned to take the test again earlier this week, but put it off after Norfolk Superior Court Judge Patrick Brady ruled against her last week."

Normally I would say give her the 20 minutes but looks like she, coincidently, could REALLY used the 20 minutes in the middle of the test which brings the legitimacy of her request into question.

I'm still waiting for a list of the other things they make special exemptions for. I think it's wrong to treat it differently than any other biological need. But at the same time, it's wrong to treat it differently than any other biological need.

Notice how those last two sentences are the same? Well, that's intentional.

I agree. It would be nice if everyone taking the test had an additional time to take care of their bodily functions. But other breastfeeding women who took the exam said that the time they were allotted was enough to take care of what they had to do. What if someone had a medical condition that kept them on the toilet for half an hour every 2-3 hours (which is what this woman supposedly needs to properly pump her breast milk, and I'm not trying to say breastfeeding and pooping are the same, I'm just using another hard-to-control bodily function as an example)? That would probably be considered a disability and it would be covered by the ADA requirements. But people don't want to treat lactation as a disability, yet they want the same consideration given to them when it means they get more time during a test. Which is it going to be?