Other surgeons disagree with this suggested new policy saying that surgeons should make the judgement for themselves and deal with the problem if there is one, on their own.

I’m not comfortable with with them suggesting that it only be elective surgeries. I know those can be as deadly as other surgeries, but I’d be more interested in all kinds of surgeries and not just elective.

We’ve all heard about doctors working for days without more than a short nap or two and this fact does not inspire confidence in my opinion. It’s almost like a drunk driver thinking they can handle driving a car without a problem. Sometimes there is a problem.

All I know for sure is that my 2 year old nephew died from Sids sleeping alone in his crib. I believe my sister found him on his stomach, but he was a month short of his 2nd birthday and could and did turn over and reposition himself in his sleep. My sister did nothing wrong and did nothing to cause this.

There are plenty of other jobs where there are limits on the amount of hours they can work in a shift and in a pay period, like airline pilots, air traffic control, and truck driviers, to name a few. Seems to me doctors should be right up there in that list.

Beside money, which is always the very bottom line, the other reasoning for these long shifts is that when a person comes in and is seen by one of the doctors, tests have to be done and most of the time these tests take hours. If a doctor or resident only works 8 to 10 hour shifts, they may be off duty by the time the test results come back, which means another doctor would be on duty and not familiar with the case.

I’m not sure whether I agree that it’s a valid point for working long shifts, but I do know that I find it troublesome that doctors know the body needs the proper amount of sleep and yet they go about life without it themselves.

They do have restictions on shift hours, however they are still too long, and if one life is lost because of this it’s one life too many. Stick to a max of 16 hours at a time, and call it a day.

A new study suggests that there are things parents and caregivers can do to greatly cut the risk of Sids. The first and most important thing is to lay babies on their backs, this alone is said to cut the risk of Sids by 51%. The next thing is to turn a fan on in the babies room. This cuts the risk by 72%, using a pacifier cuts it further to about 94%. This is especially true when the room temperature is over 69%. Having an open window cuts it even further, although that has not been proven yet as a factor.

They think that Sids occurs when there are things around the baby’s mouth and nose that block the circulation of fresh air and as a result get a build up of carbon dioxide. That is why you should lay the baby on his back. My nephew died at almost 2 years of age. He was by then of course turning over by himself, however there was a bumber guard on the crib and his blanket. She found him in the corner of his crib he positioned himself with these too close to his face. Mind you this was years ago before they knew as much as they do now. I take from this personal experience that it’s better to leave out the bumber guard and blanket, and just dress the child in very warm sleepers till he’s older.

Don’t forget also that the people who care for your baby such as daycare centers and babysitters need to know this and follow the correct sleeping rules you have set down for your baby. NEVER assume that because they are professionals that they automatically do this.