Medical students are often some of the most sleep deprived people in our society. It has been proven that lack of sleep causes reduced empathy, reduced logical thinking, and depression. Often medical students can mask their sleepiness by depending on nurses to read charts for them, or double check things that they loose the desire to double check for themselves. Many medical students, at the end of a 24 or 36 hour shift, just want their patients to be go away.

Why are the hours so long for interns and residents at hospitals?  Some hospital administrators have admitted that it is because these interns and residents are a cheap source of labor that they can exploit. They do not have a union for effective protection.  Some doctors feel that interns should have to go through this "hazing" ritual because, after all, they had to do it when they were younger. The idea that working with a severe sleep debt somehow prepares the student doctor for real life has very little grounding in reality. And the possible risk to the patients is a very important thing that they are not considering.