Conventional wisdom backed up by data

A recent study reports that tired interns are making serious mistakes. Well, duh. But apparently no one in charge of America's hospitals wants to change that. Megan McArdle, guestblogging at InstaPundit this week, notes that "the reason is green, and it folds". While it is true that there is a tradeoff here, that paying for doctors to work more hours (or hiring more doctors) to relieve interns will drive up hospital costs (the hospitals of course pushing those costs onto patients, which will result in a net increase in health care costs for everyone), it seems to me that the increased quality of medical care is worth it. Also, has a numerical analysis been done regarding how interns' increased propensity for sleep-deprivation-induced error affects the frequency of malpractice suits, and therefore the level of malpractice insurance premiums? Maybe there's also a financial benefit to letting interns get more sleep.