Pregnancy and dismissal from nursing school

Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN · Jan 20, 2012

It is illegal if they dismiss you because of your pregnancy.

However, despite what people often think, pregnancy is not bullet-proof job--or school--security. That is because it is NOT illegal if they dismiss you for grounds that they would dismiss a non-pregnant student for...in your case, the excessive absences. Their rule was 8 absences and you currently stand at 8. If you hit 9 then they have valid grounds to dismiss you, and you don't have much of a case to fight back with: you'd have to try to prove that the dismissal was solely because of the pregnancy, and all they have to do is point to their absence policy.

Is it fair? Not always. But that's how it is.

I would talk to the director of the program ASAP...personally, I'd take the dropping back to September 2013 over the chance of dismissal because being dismissed from a program makes it really hard to get into another program.

Best of luck whatever your decide and best of luck with your little one!

Al.ginger · Jan 20, 2012

Well, I know it is not the best choice, but what about induction???

I mean, if you'll make it to the Easter holydays - ask if you can be induce at that point.

allnurses Guide · Jan 20, 2012

I don't honestly see how you could avoid missing one more day between now and April, especially if you've been hospitalized already. The only way I could see that would involve you deciding to attend in an iffy situation that could go either way. Please don't do that. School will always be there. If something happens to your baby there are no do-overs.

OCNRN63, RN · Jan 20, 2012

Well, I know it is not the best choice, but what about induction???
I mean, if you'll make it to the Easter holydays - ask if you can be induce at that point.

Inducing childbirth solely for the convenience of the mother is irresponsible. Not to mention, most women need several weeks to recuperate as well as adjust to new motherhood.

Having to postpone one's education in order to have a safe childbirth is not the end of the world. Having complications due to going back too soon after delivery or from having an induction...now, that could cause a lot of unnecessary heartbreak.

Seas · Jan 20, 2012

Tough situation...

Pregnancy is a choice, and one in nursing school should have thought of the possible consequences of pregnancy before deciding that. Anyway, I think you should just let go and focus on having a healthy pregnancy anyway. If you have already been in and out of the hospital to miss 7-8 days already, very possibly, you may need to go to hospital again and miss that 1 more critical day. Sorry for your situation, but your school got to do what they got to do too. Your high risk pregnancy is not school's concern; they just have to apply their rules to anybody. Letting you stay even though you've missed all those days would be discriminating against the other students.

By the way, 8 days is too much according to nursing school I went. I think we could only miss like 2 days.

poodle5 · Jan 20, 2012

I am sure you could sue legal battles are never that clear cut

poodle5 · Jan 20, 2012

and besides pregnancy is not always a choice

allnurses Guide · Jan 20, 2012

What I hate most about this is that should you NEED to miss, you are going to fight against it because you feel like you are backed into a corner.

Please take a deep breath. Realize the next year and a half will go by no matter what and should you need to drop back and finish up later it will be unfortunate but not tragic. You may even find yourself thanking the stars you got that time with your new baby.

Either way, please do what you can to keep your own stress low, to take good care of yourself and to above all put yourself and your baby first. You'll be sad if you have to leave nursing school, but not as sad as you will be if you or your baby suffer health problems due to pushing a bit too hard to make this work.

Congratulations on your new baby coming....please take good care of yourself.

33762FL · Jan 20, 2012

not much you can do besides go back & finish up next year. the attendance rule is fair.

BundokSaint · Jan 20, 2012

It is a choice, but when the pregnancy becomes high risk its considered a disability. I've never heard of any employer, school, organization telling women they can't get pregnant. That's ridiculous!

You can't enter the military or any of the military academies if you are pregnant. In some cases, especially if you were still in the training pipeline, a female could be discharged if she became pregnant.

The rationale is simple. The government doesn't want to waste all the time, money, and resources it spent in training an individual only to "lose" her to pregnancy.

Now, once you finish school or training, you can become pregnant, but the military just doesn't want a pregnant female taking up a training spot that could used on another individual that would be able to complete school without any interruptions.

Fina11yKym · Jan 20, 2012

Our school had the " you can't get pregnancy policy" at school ( of course it wasn't stated like that..but i had 2 friends become pregnant while in the program and what do you know.. both of them had to repeat it due to dismassal. ( i had to repeat it too, but only because I didn't pass.) I agreee with everyone it is ridiculous for a school to dismiss you especially since you have a high risk pregnancy! * keep your chin up & trust in God* it will all work out =)

AZMOMO2 · Jan 20, 2012

I don't want this to feel like I am being mean or insensitive to your concerns, however, pregnancy is an elective condition, which everyone knows may become complicated at anytime.

The school needs to maintain rules across the board and should not be adjusted to reflect a small population of students. It's unfortunate that you have had a difficult pregnancy and I feel for your pain. But you just can not expect special treatment because you are pregnant.

My friend and I applied into our LPN program together. Her appendix burst, she missed two days of class. Not even clinical yet, and was kicked out of our program. Our rule was 2 missed days period. Another girl broke her leg, and was in a cast, because she could not function in her role as a student nurse with a cast on her leg she was dismissed from the program. We also had a pregnant woman who gave birth 1 day before the final, who came in and took the final less than 24 hours after giving birth, because she was told missing it would result in a fail, because she had missed 1 other day.

The rules have to remain clear, concise, and across the board fair to all students, male and female alike.

Perhaps if you volunteer withdraw and request to be admitted into the next semester you can pick up where you left off?