system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How is it possibly thought of as okay for medical residents to work 48 hour shifts?
gpt
it isn't, and the articles i've read in the past would indicate that lawsuits are going to eventually put an end to this practice.

once hospitals realize that patients are more and more willing to sue over care provided by sleep-deprived practitioners, they will decide that it is more cost-effective to staff those practitioners in more reasonable shifts.

lastly, in the past, this was seen as a sort of 'hazing,' to toughen up the younger, recent medical school graduates.  there was a sort of 'i went through this, and so i think that the next generation should also go through this' mentality.

in reality, this is a specious argument, resembling a state-of-war argument.  if our society was in a constant state of war, then this might be justifiable.  since we are *not* in a state of war; we are not living in a MASH unit.

finally, i realize there are some who would disagree about whether our society is in a state of war.