Greener Clinics, Better Care

Abstract

Sustainability and environmental stewardship have moved onto the agendas of many hospitals and health systems for both philosophical and practical reasons. Daniel Callahan, co-founder of the Hastings Center, strongly advocated a shift to sustainable medicine [1] and away from the upward curve of health care's cost and technology spiral. The language of environmentalism has permeated our thinking in many areas, and with good reason. It's clear that health care needed some "greening," starting with environmentally sound health care facilities that save on energy, water, and material costs. Some recent history shows why this trend toward sustainable health care is growing.

Green bioethics, patient autonomy and informed consent in healthcare

“…Green bioethics is an area of research and scholarship that examines the impact of health care practices and policies on the environment and emphasizes environmental values, such as ecological sustainability and stewardship. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] The conceptual underpinnings for green bioethics can be traced to the work of Van Rensselaer Potter, who conceived of bioethics as encompassing a wide range of issues in biology and medicine, including those that arise in public health and environmental policy. [15] Jessica Pierce and Andrew Jameton expanded upon Potter's work by reflecting on the adverse environmental impacts of health care systems, arguing that providers and administrators should try to minimize these impacts and encourage their patients to do the same.…”