I'm with you, especially on 4). Truth be told, doctors work long hours because they are used as the last line of defense for the patient in a ressource-constrained system. This in itself is certainly not optimal, but it seems no one can really come up with a good solution for the time being. Hours and shifts are a very complex problem for health care, and at the risk of appearing presumptuous, I would say that non-MDs and MDs alike do not have a sufficiently clear understanding of all the factors at play to make propositions in full knowledge of the consequences. Only healthcare policy specialists can really find their way in those waters. That said, I would love my shifts to shorten. If that's a good thing for society at large is anyone's guess.