# 23 Hours **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 22, 2002, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/23-hours/144294 "2002-12-22T00:57:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/23-hours/144294/1 "2002-12-22T00:57:55Z")
I was watching a Discovery Channel Show recently (or was it Learning Channel?) and they were talking about surgery. Apparantly it was a very hard operation and it took 23 hours. Now, this seems like an absurdly long amount of time for one doctor to operate on someone. Part of me thinks they must work in shifts, however I also tend to think that the operation would be very demanding and that a doctor wouldn’t just “get off work”, that the doctor would do it until it was done. Anyone know the truth to the matter? ---
**Author:** ![Church\_Key\_Kid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Church\_Key\_Kid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Church_Key_Kid)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/23-hours/144294/2 "2002-12-22T01:43:54Z")
IANADoctor… but perhaps the specialized surgeon only does the important parts, like hooking nerves back up together. Another surgeon cuts the person open to get to the important parts, and then sews him back up. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/23-hours/144294/3 "2002-12-22T02:01:21Z")
I don’t know about this particular case, but do you have any idea how many hours that M.D. residents routinely put in? Shifts are commonly 40 hours long for these young doctors. Some states are considering legislation to limit resident hours to 80 hours a week because the well over 100 hours a week that many work today are believed to contribute to accidents. I am sure that the doctors doing the surgery were well out of residency, but considering the culture, I can easily believe that the cheif surgeon was there for the entire operation. ---
**Author:** ![Opus1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/858c86/32.png) [@Opus1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Opus1)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/23-hours/144294/4 "2002-12-22T02:15:16Z")
Doctors doing long surgeries routinely work in shifts; it’s possible that one may stay for the whole procedure, but I don’t know for sure. Since such complicated surgeries are always performed by large teams anyways, swapping out members isn’t that big of a deal. ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/23-hours/144294/5 "2002-12-22T18:34:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Shagnasty \* > \*\*I don’t know about this particular case, but do you have any idea how many hours that M.D. residents routinely put in? Shifts are commonly 40 hours long for these young doctors. Some states are considering legislation to limit resident hours to 80 hours a week because the well over 100 hours a week that many work today are believed to contribute to accidents. I am sure that the doctors doing the surgery were well out of residency, but considering the culture, I can easily believe that the cheif surgeon was there for the entire operation. \*\* 40 hours in a row? That sounds impossible, I mean, wouldn’t it wreck the body of the doctor? ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/23-hours/144294/6 "2002-12-22T22:03:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Meatros \* > \*\*40 hours in a row? That sounds impossible, I mean, wouldn’t it wreck the body of the doctor? \*\* O yeh. But it happens. Sometimes they can nap in the breakroom, where they have bunkbeds. ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/23-hours/144294/7 "2002-12-22T23:55:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RM Mentock \* > \*\*O yeh. But it happens. Sometimes they can nap in the breakroom, where they have bunkbeds. \*\* If it’s possible, my respect for doctors just shot up. I mean, I already had a lot of respect for them. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/23-hours/144294/8 "2002-12-23T03:19:12Z")
It’s also asking for mistakes. White coats or not, the mind _needs sleep_. Go without for too long, and you go from absentminded and loopy (been there most weekends) to psychotic and prone to hallucinations (usually pass out before I get here… ;)). **Meatros** , would you trust an airplane to someone who just got off a 20 hour flight? Why would you trust a limb to someone who just got off a 20 hour case?