Should hospital residents be required to work shorter hours and take naps to avoid exhaustion that can bring harm to their patients? The question has created a surprising divide in the medical community, even though no one disputes the fact that people are more prone to make mistakes when they are tired. That is why industries in which employees are responsible for the lives of others — such as airlines and railroads — have limits on how many hours of continuous work their employees are allowed to do. Graduates of medical schools undergoing training as residents in teaching hospitals are subject to industry restrictions, too — but the rules allow for plenty of bleary eyes. In 2003, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education told hospitals to adhere to an 80-hour workweek for their residents. The guidelines stemmed in part from past cases of patient harm, including the 1984 death of a patient named Libby Zion in a New York hospital, which led to state caps on residents’ workload. Before the 2003 guidelines, residents in some specialties would work more than 100 hours a week, compared with a 60-hour workweek common in parts of Western Europe. Ever […]