A doctor diagnosed a Canadian patient with “climate change” after a slew of health problems suddenly grew worse amid a heatwave.
A patient came into the emergency room in Kootenay Lake Hospital in Nelson, British Colombia, struggling to breathe. Dr. Kyle Merritt assessed that worsening wildfire smoke in the region exacerbated the patient’s asthma, Times Colonist reports. The doctor clinically diagnosed the patient with “climate change.”
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“If we’re not looking at the underlying cause, and we’re just treating the symptoms, we’re just gonna keep falling further and further behind,” Merritt said.
“It’s me trying to just … process what I’m seeing. We’re in the emergency department, we look after everybody, from the most privileged to the most vulnerable, from cradle to grave, we see everybody,” he continued. “And it’s hard to see people, especially the most vulnerable people in our society, being affected. It’s frustrating.”
Merritt said a record-breaking heatwave in the region, marked the deadliest in the county’s history, contributed to worsening health conditions of locals.
“This past summer, it was so bad for about three weeks,” Merritt said. “What do you do with your children? You know, I have three kids, and they’re inside. It’s summertime. We’ve just got through COVID. And they want to go out and jump on the trampoline. So I have to try and figure out: Is that safe?”
A female patient sought medical care in June during the heatwave, complaining of multiple worsened health symptoms, according to Times Colonist.
“She has diabetes. She has some heart failure … She lives in a trailer, no air conditioning,” Merritt said of the patient. “All of her health problems have all been worsened. And she’s really struggling to stay hydrated.”
Merritt says he and his colleagues tried to figure out how to combat the surge in heat-related illnesses during the dangerous summer. He began reaching out to other medical professionals in Prince George, Kamloops, Vancouver, and Victoria.
“We were having to figure out how do we cool someone in the emergency department,” Merritt said. “People are running out to the Dollar Store to buy spray bottles.”
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Some 40 concerned doctors and nurses answered Merritt’s call, coming together to form Doctors and Nurses for Planetary Health.
“I was really quite amazed at how many people have decided to jump in,” Merritt said.
The group aims to highlight the link between climate conditions prompted by climate change and worsening health.
