BOSTON (AP) – An appeals court on Friday sided with a Harvard student, saying she can receive extra break time during a lengthy medical licensing exam to pump breast milk for her infant daughter.
The state Appeals Court refused to overturn a decision issued by a single justice of the court last week that allowed Sophie Currier, 33, an extra 60 minutes of break time. Currier is slated to take the test next week.
The National Board of Medical Examiners planned to immediately appeal to the state Supreme Judicial Court, said the board’s attorney, Joseph Savage Jr. A single justice of the SJC had declined to hear the case last week, saying the board had to first go to the Appeals Court for a ruling.
Currier, of Brookline, sued after the board said she could have only the standard 45 minutes of break time during the nine-hour exam.
Last week, Judge Gary Katzmann of the Appeals Court ruled in favor of Currier, saying she is entitled to an extra 60 minutes to pump breast milk to feed her 5-month-old baby. Ignoring the need to pump could cause her significant pain, Katzmann said, and if she didn’t get the extra time, she would not be on “equal footing” with men and non-lactating women who take the test.
The licensing board then appealed Katzmann’s ruling to the full, three-judge panel of the appeals court. On Friday, the full court refused to overturn Katzmann’s decision.
The court said it based its decision on whether Katzmann abused his discretion or made a clear error of law. The court said it found neither. It did not rule on the merits of the case.
The board, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit corporation, is responsible for administering the test, which is used by boards of medicine across the country to license physicians. It had said it must be consistent in the amount of break time given to all test-takers and that other nursing mothers who have taken the exam found 45 minutes sufficient.
“Our overriding concerns are fairness to all examinees and the integrity of the exam, which serves as an important gateway to medical practice,” Savage said. “Our position remains that the exam’s sponsors have in no way violated Ms. Currier’s rights,” he said.
Lauren Stiller Rikleen, one of Currier’s attorneys, said she was “amazed” the board would continue to fight Currier’s bid for extra break time. “The entire medical profession encourages breast-feeding and yet the National Board of Medical Examiners has relentlessly pursued this fight to prevent a nursing mom from expressing milk during a nine-hour test. I don’t understand the rationale,” she said.
“The test time doesn’t change. We’re just talking about whether she gets additional break time to express her milk. This is not about an opportunity that somehow affords any advantage.”
Currier already has 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. The board also offered a separate testing room where she can express milk during the test, and the option to leave the test center to breast-feed during breaks.
Currier has finished a joint M.D.-Ph.D. program at Harvard University while having two babies in the past two years. She has been offered a residency in clinical pathology at Massachusetts General Hospital beginning in November but cannot accept it unless she passes the test. Her goal is a career in medical research.
She took the exam in April when she was 8 1/2 months pregnant, but failed by a few points.
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