It is both egotistical and unwarranted to presume that doctors are more, or indeed less, caring for the planet than individuals with similar disposable incomes.1 When I attended my hospital this morning there were three other cars in the on-call car park—all huge gas guzzling monstrosities: Land Rover, Mercedes, and Volvo.
Consultants generally have huge or ridiculous cars such as Porsches, four wheel drives, and so on, and only the ones deemed terminally eccentric or anaesthetists are seen (God forbid!) cycling to work. I suspect general practitioners are similarly inclined, particularly following the new contract, and I think doctors in particular and the NHS in general are in no position to lecture others on “carbon footprints.”
Hospitals are almost all electric company financial directors' dreams, with unheeded lights lit all weekend, radiators jammed on next to open windows, and all the other ecovandalisms we have been familiar with for decades. The NHS says “Sod the planet, Jack, I'm all right,” and it's right. For a few years at least. Cease this self delusion.
Competing interests: None declared.
References
- 1.Stott R, Godlee F. What should we do about climate change? BMJ 2006;333:983-4. (11 November.) [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]