The family of a 26-year-old doctor in Japan who died by suicide last year after working more than 200 hours of overtime in a single month have pleaded for change in a nation long plagued by overwork culture.
Damn, that’s about six and a half hours of overtime every day for the entire month. That’s a whole extra job and change. This man had no time to do anything for himself unless it ate away at his time to sleep. Doctors already work ridiculously long shifts, so I guarantee he was sleep deprived. I’d kill myself, too. That’s no way to live.
That’s an extra 50 hours a week. Like more than a regular full time job of overtime. No idea how people survive it - they used to by progidious use of uppers like cocaine and amphetamines, but now all these docs aren’t allowed that but still have to do the same shitty hours.
I’m always rather disheartened when I talk to people about the expectations placed on residents in the American medical system because a common response is to say that it doesn’t matter and they deserve it because they’re going to be doctors making a good salary soon enough. I’m in my second year of medical school now, so residency’s a little ways off, but I can’t help but think that people will think of me as spoiled and entitled for pushing back against the 80 hour work weeks that are normal in residency.
I wonder how much pressure he felt from family to become/remain a doctor. Rest in peace. What a shame to lose someone to something like this
Unfortunately this is all too common. I had the privilege of spending a month in Japan with a host family and their work/life balance makes living in the US feel like Scandinavia. It’s certainly improved since the 2000s, but not by much.
Not to proselytize too much, but Japan, S. Korea, and China seem to be working themselves to death
Edit: I should clarify that I meant young people taking their lives because of the work culture is too common. 200 overtime hours in a month is certainly not normal.
I kind-of blame the rest of the world for that. Why are all of these countries (SEA) so opposed to foreigners moving to work there? They’ve all been drinking the koolaid and might not mesh w/ these wildly-different work cultures.
They, like the US, could certainly afford to hire more doctors. If there aren’t enough, incentivize immigration to your country by educated foreigners :(
Did he fucking sleep at work? Japanese culture requires usually an hour before and after work that isn’t considered overtime and isn’t paid although this practice is becoming more rare or lessening to 30 minutes. It may have been even worse than quoted here if they did not take that into account as his “overtime”
