From the December edition of Health Affairs and authors Matt Eckleman and Jodi Sherman, et. al:
The US health care system is responsible for about a quarter of all global health care greenhouse gas emissions, which is more than the health care system of any other nation.1–3 Health damages stemming from US health care pollution in 2013 (the most recent study) were on the same order of magnitude as deaths from preventable medical errors. 4,5…
Doctors and governments have an incentive to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions — more and more research shows that climate change threatens health outcomes and life expectancy around the world. Just last week, a landmark report in the medical journal The Lancet showed that rising temperatures and other consequences of burning fossil fuels threaten to undo the past 50 years of gains in public health. “If you work in health care, there is a role in not just responding and adapting but preventing the emissions that lead to climate change,” Alan Weil, editor in chief of Health Affairs, said on Tuesday…