Opinion: Physicians need — and should take — paternity leave

When my daughter was born, I was just a year out of fellowship training, working hard within my hospital’s medical hierarchy. Fearful of burdening my colleagues with extra work, I did not use the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), a national law requiring employers to provide job-protected, unpaid leave for personal reasons. Instead, I took three weeks of unpaid vacation time masquerading as my paternity leave.

To be honest, I was eager to get back to work when the vacation time had run out. Still on the probationary partner track, I hoped to show my colleagues I was worthy of joining their ranks. Yet looking back five years later, I see a largely absent father for the first few months of my daughter’s life and wish I had been home more, physically and emotionally, during her first year.

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