Trigger usual debate points:

• Truck drivers have mandated rest periods, why don't docs?
• How can anyone think clearly enough to make life-and-death decisions after they've been up for so long?
• How's a guy supposed to learn―or make a living―if he can't be there as much as possible?

Etc.

But the interesting part is this: even though residents are restricted, they can still be up thirty hours straight, and more if they fudge things a bit, and imagine if you didn't get a good night's sleep beforehand (anecdotally, disordered sleep is pretty common among physician trainees). But at 02:00 in the morning, when a young resident's calling to staff a new patient, he's often more awake than the attending he's calling. Carte blanche essentially, except for Level 4 Stupid Things that can be caught over the phone by an alcoholic med student (things like, "I'm going to give the patient with a penicillin allergy penicillin!", or, "I think this headache is properly treated with 20mg of IV morphine!", or, "There is still a therapeutic place for hemlock, right?").

I wonder if this is spectacularly different in the UK, and/or if the advent of a universal healthcare system in the US (one can hope) would lead to changes in this area.