Doctors strike

Berlin

Thousands of German doctors went on strike this week, threatening to move to other European countries where working conditions are better. Most full-time workers in Germany work fewer than 40 hours a week and receive at least five weeks of paid vacation. But German doctors complained that medical residents assigned to hospitals often have to work more than 50 hours a week, a schedule they say endangers their own health and that of their patients. In the U.S., residents in hospitals routinely work 80 hours a week or more, and often 24 hours in a row.