Doctors in their residency have notoriously awful hours, so bad that they had to legislation was crafted merely to cap the hours at a four-week average of 80 hours (meaning that, yes, they could work 3 one hundred hour weeks and one 20-hour week).
88 hours for neurosurgical residents. And, speaking as someone who is married to one, that hypothetical "20 hour week" never happens.
Also, you are expected to be active researching and publishing and studying for certification; figure another few hours a day outside of the hospital when you're not on call.
Unfortunately the working time directive for doctors in the UK is also averaged over a longer time period. So my wife has just come off an 80+ hour week of night shifts
Back here (Netherlands), GP's (local doctors, they get all the booboos for a certain area) as well as pharmacists would get called out of bed in the middle of the night in case of emergencies. (I was carried off to the doctor at night when I developed pneumonia once, got diagnosed, penicillin from the pharmacy, etc in a matter of an hour or so). I'm guessing that happened frequently, so I'm sure doctors would miss quite some sleep from time to time, especially during flu epidemics and the like.
Nowadays, they have a new system, "Doctor's Watch", where the GP's from a certain area operate at night in rotation. It's a bit more official and less personal, but it does allow those not on rotation to get a proper night's sleep. Pretty sure they'd compensate that by working less hours during the day / week.
Yes, and that's why my doctor friends have given me a bunch of times of week where they won't go to hospital unless they're literally about to die. Any amount of pain/worry/discomfort is, for them, better than seeing a colleague at the end of their shift if they want their problem fixed.
When I started as an intern developing, I could quite easily spend 70-hours a week in the office, plus my whole weekend on my computer at home. Not because I had to, but because I was keen to figure out how everything fit together, why something didn't work and what I was doing wrong mainly.
The banking industry is well known for being able to make a lot of money in, but having to put in long hours. Unfortunately I can't feel sorry for people working in that industry, you have to keep an eye on the long term goals of earning 6-figure salary with bonuses that double that (I know plenty of people doing that who have "put in the time")
>100-hour weeks will be interspersed with very dead weeks
That still sounds pretty dramatic man. Would you want your doctor on that schedule? Your bus/cab driver?