There should not be a limit on the amount of hours a physician works.

Before we debate this I'd like to state a few things: 1)Since medical science is very specific in it's terminology and there is a universal acceptance of many bodily processes and functions, I will not define any medical terminology or explain any basic bodily processes unless my opponent is explicitly erroneous and using such as supporting evidence. Nor will I reference statements of such unless I am directly contradicting a claim my opponent has made. 2)I'll be using ellipses and paraphrasing only to make quotes more manageable, If I accidentally change the intention of something you say, it won't be intentional and I welcome clarification in the following rounds 3)Gratz on being my first opponent on debate.org! =D You started by claiming: "A good physician is a physician that is experienced, educated, and spends the most amount of time possible on their career, and advancing their education as a physician." I can not accept your value statement as true since I'm sure that english speakers refer to one who preforms a job as "good" when they preform that job well. A physician's job is to diagnose, treat, and alter (not leaving out plastic surgeons) the human body. Therefore a physician is only a good physician when s/he diagnoses, treats, or alters the body well. Knowledge, attendance, and the pursuit of knowledge are duties of a student. You may say that being a good student aids a physician in doing their job well, but not that it makes him or her a good physician if they do not perform the job of a physician well as well. Then you claimed: "The "doctors get tired and make mistakes" argument, which I am sure my opponent will counter with, is not valid. . . because . . . the entire time, adrenaline is flowing [which] prevents the feeling of tiredness when caring for a patient . . ." Adrenaline stimulates the autonomic nervous system. Sleep deprivation reduces brain activity in the prefrontal and temporal lobes of the brain. (http://www.apa.org...) So while you are correct that an increase in adrenaline in the body will probably make someone feel less tired, it won't negate the negative impact the lack of rest is having on the body. (Just a side note, the prefrontal and temporal lobes control complex problem solving, planning for the future, controlling emotional behavior, and is the area of the brain that governs auditory function. Kinda important brain functions when you are preforming surgery or prescribing medicines wouldn't you say?) Being that your next point was is a rather flimsy emotional appeal, I'm only going to comment on it briefly to help illustrate the growing weakness that the argument gains as each subjective statement builds on the previous. "Many physicians feel that their patients are their number one priority. . ." Good for them? How does this matter? ". . .and some physicians don't like their home lives, and come to the hospital to get away from their problems." Great! Emotional problems plus decreased control from lack of prefrontal lobe activity equals prime time drama. But not really professional medical environment. . . "Sending them home when they do not wish to leave work is a cruel thing to do. . ." I really doubt enforced breaks from work is something cruel men often do. If so then maybe we should let cruel dictators know so they can change their work camps into vacation camps! It might revolutionize the industry of cruelness. ". . .and the wishes of physicians, who save lives and have contributed so much to society, should be respect." Let's hope they don't wish for universal self castration! If physicians world wide really are wishing for sweat shop hours, and it isn't a wise thing to grant, it shouldn't be granted. "Society has a debt to physicians, and restricting them in the hours they work is not a way to pay them back that debt." If restricting work hours isn't the way to pay them back, it doesn't indicate that the inverse is true. To assume so is fallacious. (Ex: A rock isn't alive, therefore it's dead. ) "Having a new physician come in and care for a patient can make them uncomfortable, and not have as good of an experience in the facility. The longer a physician spends with a patient, the more they learn about the patient's attitude, limitations, beliefs, and interests, and can therefore interact with the patient efficiently." Um, I don't even want to dwell on this too long. Bed side manner is great and all but it's more important that the doctor doesn't **** up when s/he is cutting someone open, replacing organs, prescribing potent drugs, etc. I know I would much rather have a doctor be on the ball and do his/her job right than lose sleep so s/he can watch "The Gilmore Girls" with me and learn about what my life was like growing up on the farm. The only other thing to add is that laws restricting work hours for doctors are less an effort to punish doctors and more an effort to prevent hospitals from exploiting their salaried staff. At the same time increasing the quality of care patients receive. I'm done, you've got the soapbox.