I stumbled upon a very interesting group today, Health Care Without Harm – www.noharm.org
Now, what do you think this group’s mission is:
1. Patient safety (working toward reduction in medication errors, malpractice etc)
2. Environmentally responsible health care
3. Insurance company advocacy (to promote coverage)
4. Advocacy for health care workers to take better care of themselves
Any guesses?
I thought it would be 1 – Patient Safety: a non-profit group to work for ways to reduce mistakes, malpractice, and medication errors.
I was wrong.
Health Care without Harm is an environmental group “working to implement ecologically sound and healthy alternatives to health care practices that pollute the environment and contribute to disease.”
Ahh, good goal. I agree that we should promote sustainable practices, provide healthy foods, cut down on waste, etc. But with over 1.5 million Americans becoming sick or dying a year because of medical errors, I wonder if we should start there and then move toward Green practices. Don’t hurt people, and when you can do that pretty well, don’t hurt the environment.
I will gladly support the real Health Care without Harm, or the imaginary one in my head that fights for patient safety.
Until then, we fight for patients by bring