U.S. healthcare organizations are among the worst polluters in the world, according to a new study that finds the nation’s healthcare sector ranks higher on a list of greenhouse gas emitters than the entirety of the U.K
Healthcare-generated pollutants carry a cost of about 405,000 to 470,000 years of health life per year, according to the study, which was published in PLoS ONE. That is equivalent to the number of Americans who die from preventable medical errors each year. The figure has grown over the past 10 years, with emissions from healthcare sources spiking 30 percent and comprising a 10th of the nation’s overall emissions in 2013, according to researchers Jodi Sherman, M.D., of Yale School of Medicine and Matthew Eckelman, an environmental engineer .
Prior to the latest research, studies put healthcare’s emissions at 8 percent of the national total, but this had only factored in the carbon footprint rather than other aspects, the study authors said. For example, direct and indirect healthcare-related emissions caused 12 percent of acid rain, 10 percent of smog formation and 9 percent of particulate matter-caused respiratory diseases. The researchers blame the increase in part on rising use of single-use disposables in an effort to reduce hospital-acquired infections.
Part of the problem, they said, is a persistent “knowledge gap” within the healthcare sector about how unnecessary waste impacts population health. “Few healthcare leaders are highly informed about environmental dimensions of healthcare delivery--about the economic consequences, the health consequences or the moral aspects,” University of Washington School of Public Health Dean Howard Frumkin, M.D., who wasn't involved in the study, told Reuters. “Greater awareness should lead to greater adoption of environmentally sound practices."
Experts have long called for healthcare leaders to address the industry’s environmental impact, and a February Health Affairs blog post estimated hospitals could save $15 billion by reducing their footprints.
- read the study