Maternity and medical leave during residency: Time to standardize?

I was full of dread the day I went to the pediatrician for my newborn son’s three-week checkup. The following week I was to return to my clinical duties as a dermatology resident, just 4 weeks post partum. The pediatrician learned of this and strongly urged me to take more time off. She insisted that 6 weeks is the minimum time needed to establish breast-feeding, strengthen my mother-baby bond, and regain my strength. The time is important not only for me, she, and later my OB-GYN lectured, but also for my new baby. The dread came because I knew that I could not follow my doctor’s advice. A maternity leave longer than 4 weeks was not possible for me. Restrictions from the American Board of Dermatology made the physician recommended maternity leave almost impossible to achieve. Longer than 6 weeks leave during any academic year or over 14 weeks leave over 3 years is grounds for “strongly recommended” make up time after residency. Sick days counted against the 6 weeks, and so I was left with 4. The institutions that certify doctors to advise patients on health at the same time prevent those doctors from pursuing best health practices for themselves. Throughout the country, residency programs have different policies abouttheleavetheyoffertonewparents.Indermatologyalone,programs range from offering 3 months off, to only offering unused predetermined vacation days each academic year. Up and through the 1970s, residency programs had no guidelines at all on medical and parental leave. In the