New mom sues medical licensing board

[Blade28]

Sorry for posting when Blade said to let the thread die but this post caught my attention.

I have a friend with a moderate form of ADD and she's never resorted to Ritalin, extra time for tests, etc. she had a 3.9 GPA in college, was getting high scores on practice LSATs (hasn't taken it yet due to deciding whether she wants to apply and waiting for hubby to finish med school).

But the point is she does well with work etc. and has learned to work around her limitations and find ways around them without resorting to begging for things like extra time etc.

No need to apologize! Those are all valid points and you provide a great example - those who are able to work around their illnesses are inspirational.

It's those who keep asking for more and more accomodation, despite poor results, that bother me. There comes a time when you have to realize that not everyone "deserves" to be a (insert specialty type here) physician. It's a privilege, not a right. You have to earn it.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

Y'all are missing my point. Of course there are certain conditions that should preclude one from going into medicine (and flying, etc).

My point was that you can't take a person with a mild impairment who is able to "work around it", and hold him/her up as an example of why others with more severe limitations should just work through it as well. A person with mild ADHD can get past it, a person with profound ADHD cannot. It's not a character flaw, it's a biologic limitation and says nothing about their character.

I agree. Some people with ADHD need meds, and some need extra time on tests. They shouldn't feel guilty because others with a more minor form of the illness don't need accommodation. Of course, we all have problems with people with very minor ADHD taking meds just to enhance their studying or getting extra time on a test to make a better score. But again, it doesn't mean others don't need those things.

And if you you really do need extra time to do everything, you shouldn't pursue a profession that requires you to work quickly. Whether or not that means you can't be a physician, I don't know.

I am curious to see if she passed the exam. I've got to say I wouldn't be too surprised if she failed again in spite of all the extra accommodations.

 

[45408]

so did she pass? I was looking around on Google and didn't see anything.

 

[Blade28]

Argh! I thought this thread had died.

 

[nonesuchgirl]

so did she pass? I was looking around on Google and didn't see anything.

we (the girls, i think) figured out that she had in november. it's archived somewhere, I guess she is gone from MGH, since she's not on their roster any more. she used to be here http://www.massgeneral.org/pathology/train/staff.htm

hooray.

 

[alwaysaangel]

Huge necro bump but this was brought up with friends in a conversation today so I decided to take a look around the web and see what finally happened.

In August of 2010 (yes 3 years after she took - and as far as I can tell failed her exam) a judge ruled against her and said NBME not giving her extra time was NOT discriminatory.

http://masslawyersweekly.com/the-do...dge-finds-against-mother-in-breast-pump-case/

Of course, the lawsuit happy mom is still appealing

As far as I can tell she never went into residency or got a medical license (she is not on MGH pathology site and doesn't have a medical license in the state of Massachusetts). I can't find anything that explicitly says she failed but it seems the most likely reason she never completed residency.

 

[StephanieZ]

I know this thread is old, but I just have to say:

As a mom who has breastfed, I can back up the fact that at 4 months, if you are exclusively breastfeeding and you go for 4 or so hours without doing it, it is very painful and yes you can start leaking, so I can understand her needing to do it every 4 hours.

But she should have just put off the USMLE. Yes, she has a right to bf, and nobody has a right to interfere with that, but nobody WAS interfering. There are some things in life that if you want to do, you have to make sure you are physically capable of doing them. Everybody does not need to make exceptions for you, and medical licensing is one of those things. You have a right to breastfeed, you don't have a "right" to be given the opportunity to take the USMLE and have people make special arrangements for you.

 

[Waterbearer]

Nice... you just compared a woman having sex to driving drunk.

A crime for which she must pay, right? The dirty slut!

Unless you believe in enforced abstinance for all female residents (no, don't get excited.. it's NOT going to happen), pregnancies will happen. Residency programs should have contigency plans for this, and in fact should assume that one or two residents per class will have to take maternity/paternity leave, just as they plan ahead for dropouts, deaths, or what have you.

Anyone who does take leave should naturally expect to see their graduation delayed. Nobody besides the whackjob suing USMLE seriously believes otherwise. And I don't believe in lightening the workload of residency just to make it family-friendly (and besides, cush residencies exist for those who want them).

But not dealing with the realities of pregnancy because of some deep-seated misogynist instinct that women who have sex are evil or whatever your hangup is... is just not realistic.

For the record, I am disgusted by the Currier lawsuit. Its obvious that she is suing simply to make sure she doesn't fail again. Its perplexing that a girl with ADHD, dyslexia, whatnot could make it to MIT and Harvard but couldn't finish a test. She is a pain in the @$$ for honest breastfeeding students who are taking their usmle's. And I totally agree that if she were granted any more "accommodations" on top of all that she received, that test wouldn't be fair anymore. She already got to split the test in HALF and take it over TWO FREAKIN DAYS!!!!!

However, I don't understand why instead of bashing Currier's lawsuit so many posters are bashing female doctors in general. It's strange that as doctors, you will be trained to tell pregnant women to eat well, rest well, not stress too much, and take time off if overworked to have a healthy baby. But when it comes to colleagues, the same principles fly out the door. So all pregnant women deserve rest, nutrition and stress-free 9 months but not the resident doctors. And why? Because they are chose to make this horrible horrible decision (aka having a baby) and now must pay the same way that drunk drivers that get thrown in jail do. I think it's so interesting that as doctors, you'll be trained to not judge an unwed pregnant teen, an HIV patient, a drug addict etc etc but you are so quick to judge a pregnant colleague. WTF???? Yes, its a bad idea for a resident to get pregnant and then leave her colleagues to pick up after her. But we can't really judge her for what could be a completely unplanned, accidental pregnancy.

 

[gujuDoc]

Huge necro bump but this was brought up with friends in a conversation today so I decided to take a look around the web and see what finally happened.

In August of 2010 (yes 3 years after she took - and as far as I can tell failed her exam) a judge ruled against her and said NBME not giving her extra time was NOT discriminatory.

http://masslawyersweekly.com/the-do...dge-finds-against-mother-in-breast-pump-case/

Of course, the lawsuit happy mom is still appealing

As far as I can tell she never went into residency or got a medical license (she is not on MGH pathology site and doesn't have a medical license in the state of Massachusetts). I can't find anything that explicitly says she failed but it seems the most likely reason she never completed residency.

wow that's interesting. I wonder if she can use the MD at least to do other things like research or something else like others do?

 

[Charles_Carmichael]

wow that's interesting. I wonder if she can use the MD at least to do other things like research or something else like others do?

She has a PhD.

 

[gujuDoc]

She has a PhD.

Oh good call. I've not read the original article in 3 years so forgot about that. Just remember the general idea of the case.

 

[MedStudentWanna]

However, I don't understand why instead of bashing Currier's lawsuit so many posters are bashing female doctors in general. It's strange that as doctors, you will be trained to tell pregnant women to eat well, rest well, not stress too much, and take time off if overworked to have a healthy baby. But when it comes to colleagues, the same principles fly out the door. So all pregnant women deserve rest, nutrition and stress-free 9 months but not the resident doctors. And why? Because they are chose to make this horrible horrible decision (aka having a baby) and now must pay the same way that drunk drivers that get thrown in jail do. I think it's so interesting that as doctors, you'll be trained to not judge an unwed pregnant teen, an HIV patient, a drug addict etc etc but you are so quick to judge a pregnant colleague. WTF???? Yes, its a bad idea for a resident to get pregnant and then leave her colleagues to pick up after her. But we can't really judge her for what could be a completely unplanned, accidental pregnancy.

This shouldn't surprise you. Simply put, doctors are hypocrites. They will preach to patients until the cows come home about the importance of adequate sleep on a daily basis, but then they'll throw a fit and protest when the ACGME talks about lightening residency work hours, implying they're just as capable of making life and death decisions on no sleep as they are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 10 a.m. after 12 hours of sleep. They'll prescribe ADD meds for kids and adults or write notes for accommodations for those with learning disabilities in grade school and college, but if a fellow med student needs those same accommodations or medications, they assume the person is faking so they get an advantage. They write notes for patients to get out of work because of bruising from a car accident, yet the cardinal rule of residency is (according to posters on SDN): you better be in the hospital every day, either as a patient or a resident. It's just hypocrisy. Get used to seeing it.

 

[gujuDoc]

This shouldn't surprise you. Simply put, doctors are hypocrites. They will preach to patients until the cows come home about the importance of adequate sleep on a daily basis, but then they'll throw a fit and protest when the ACGME talks about lightening residency work hours, implying they're just as capable of making life and death decisions on no sleep as they are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 10 a.m. after 12 hours of sleep. They'll prescribe ADD meds for kids and adults or write notes for accommodations for those with learning disabilities in grade school and college, but if a fellow med student needs those same accommodations or medications, they assume the person is faking so they get an advantage. They write notes for patients to get out of work because of bruising from a car accident, yet the cardinal rule of residency is (according to posters on SDN): you better be in the hospital every day, either as a patient or a resident. It's just hypocrisy. Get used to seeing it.

Sooooooooo true. right on!!!!

 

[Gigantron]

I have to say (after reading most of this thread), if anyone should be taking legal action, it should be the medical board against the mother, because having children when you're that stupid is child abuse.