X-Message-Number: 18116
From: "John de Rivaz" <>
Subject: Legislation Would Limit Medical Residents' Hours
Date: Sat, 8 Dec 2001 12:02:01 -0000

From Infobeat:
http://www.infobeat.com/articles3/news_health_4_120701.html
>>>>
Legislation Would Limit Medical Residents' Hours

According to proposed federal legislation just introduced on Capitol Hill,
medical residents -- the doctors who most often staff emergency rooms across
the nation -- are worked to the point of exhaustion, which is dangerous for
them and their patients, HealthScout News reports.

"Medical residents, who do the bulk of the work in hospital emergency rooms
and clinics, are working up to 130 hours a week with shifts that easily last
36 hours without even a nap," says Rob Levy, director of Legislative Affairs
for the American Medical Students Association, an organization that helped
draft the new legislation.

The new bill, introduced by Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., seeks, among other
things, to limit a medical resident's work week to 80 hours, a shift to no
more than 24 consecutive hours, and an emergency room shift to 12 hours.
<<<<<

This is something that is long overdue, and eventually the hours worked by
people in hospitals should be exactly the same as for airline pilots and
other public service drivers. Obviously this means more staff are needed,
and this should be achieved by improving working conditions and also
limiting the rigours of the training to what is essential to the work
required.

At present, comments like "if the airlines were run like hospitals one jumbo
jet would crash every week" seem directly related to the hours worked in the
professions that are being compared.

--
Sincerely, John de Rivaz:      http://www.deRivaz.com
my homepage links to Longevity Report, Fractal Report, music, Inventors'
report, an autobio and various other projects:
http://www.geocities.com/longevityrpt
http://www.autopsychoice.com - http://www.cryonics-europe.org -
http://www.porthtowan.com

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