Mothers first, physicians second

While I knew that political correctness now reaches every level of society, "Women in White" (October/00) made me question the quality of medical education at my alma mater: "How could I have three children?"… when she found out she was pregnant.

Is my alma mater producing physicians who don't know where babies come from? Is there no understanding of contraception?

I think it is a matter of pride that the only "problem that really stuck out" was lack of child care.

When I was a first-year medical student, it was an oft-repeated fact in our child development course that a child should not, for good development, be separated from his mother during the first two years. I know of no research proving that this no longer obtains.

Perhaps you can explain why female physicians are asking the University of Chicago to facilitate behavior detrimental to children.

Perhaps the following might more adequately explain my question: Can you imagine a male buying a $350,000 Ferrari 550 maranello and each morning taking it to another man to be driven all day by him? The owner then returns to take the car home for a wash and refill of the gas tank, only to return it to the other man for his pleasure the following day. Certainly a human child is more valuable than a car. Why does any woman want to have a child when she cannot provide the care the child's needs demand?

J. Curtis Kovacs, AB'63, MD'67
Sun City, Arizona

---