This article incorrectly associated Stacy Malkan with H2E. She is a steering committee member of Health Care Without Harm.
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Medicine Gears Up for a Code Green
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Teleosis warns against over-prescribing medications, which Desai said presents a pollution hazard because unused pharmaceuticals often find their way back into the environment.
"If everyone who comes in gets prescribed pharmaceuticals or is admitted for surgery, that is more invasive on the environment," she said. "How do we step back and reduce that reliance?"
"Going green is not just about recycling," Gupta said. "It's more a change in the way we work. It's a change in our environment. For example, one of the big pushes in new construction is to have more daylight in the [hospital] rooms . . . to help patients feel more at peace, so they require less medication for sedation."
Some medical practitioners are catching this green spirit, promoting their practices as environmentally friendly.
Christopher Warner, a gynecologic laser surgeon and obstetrician, advertises a Georgetown office that he says is entirely free of toxins, down to the paint on the walls.
"Everything in the space is recycled," said his wife, Sharon Warner, who manages the practice, called the Washington Wellness Institute. Everything (even the carpet and wall panels) is made of natural and recycled materials.
Glass walls throughout the office allow sunlight to illuminate the space, and motion sensors in most rooms turn off the lights when people leave. The Warners use washable hemp gowns instead of disposable paper ones and are in the process of entering all patient records into an electronic, or paper-free, system.
"All the things we tell our kids to do -- turn out the lights, close the door -- our office does it for us automatically," Christopher Warner said. "Coming into the office, the air just feels that much cleaner; the environment is less toxic."
Hall expects more efforts to grab patients' attention in the months and years to come, adding that although the industry has made improvements, there is still a long way to go.
"We can do things differently -- limit exposure to toxic chemicals in hospitals, limit the things that have mercury so patients aren't exposed to them," she said. "And there are a lot of teachable moments in the hospital. It's a good opportunity to . . . make sure we are role-modeling healthy living."
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