Richie Cristina
Cristina Richie, Ph.D., is a Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh and a Lecturer in Philosophy and Ethics of Technology at Delft University of Technology.
J Law Med Ethics. 2020 Dec;48(4):643-652. doi: 10.1177/1073110520979371.
In 2014, the United States health care industry produced an estimated 480 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2); nearly 8% of the country's total emissions. The importance of sustainability in health care - as a business reliant on fossil fuels for transportation, energy, and operational functioning - is slowly being recognized. These efforts to green health care are incomplete, since they only focus on health care structures. The therapeutic relationship is the essence of health care - not the buildings that contain the practice. As such, this article will first postulate reasons for a lack of environmental sustainability in US health care. Second, the article will focus on current green health care initiatives in the United States in which patients and physicians participate. Third, the rationale for participation in green initiatives will be explained. Fourth, the article will propose that, based on the environmental values of patients and physicians, health care insurance plans and health care insurance companies can be targeted for green health care reform, thereby closing the loop of sustainable health care delivery.
2014年，美国医疗行业估计产生了4.8亿公吨二氧化碳（CO2），几乎占该国总排放量的8%。医疗行业作为一个在运输、能源和运营功能方面依赖化石燃料的行业，其可持续性的重要性正逐渐得到认可。这些绿色医疗的努力并不完整，因为它们只关注医疗结构。治疗关系才是医疗的核心，而非开展医疗业务的建筑。因此，本文将首先假定美国医疗行业缺乏环境可持续性的原因。其次，本文将聚焦美国目前患者和医生参与的绿色医疗倡议。第三，将解释参与绿色倡议的理由。第四，本文将提出，基于患者和医生的环境价值观，可以针对医疗保险计划和医疗保险公司进行绿色医疗改革，从而完善可持续医疗服务的循环。
