Today, a column by BCH physician and vocal Prouty supporter Michael Rich appeared on WBUR's Cognoscenti blog. We encourage you to read the entire piece, add your voice in the comments section and share it among your circles.
The hospital claims cutting down Prouty is about saving lives; this doctor makes it clear — saving Prouty is also about saving lives.
Here is an excerpt of this powerful piece:
As physicians, we pledge the Hippocratic oath: “First, do no harm.” To ignore substantial research evidence of the healing power of nature is bad medicine.
Cutting down our redwood and destroying our garden, thinking that we can build something better than nature, betrays our commitment to preserving life. Once Prouty Garden is gone, it is lost forever, taking with it the memories and meaning of many lives lost and many more saved at Boston Children’s Hospital — and denying its healing to future patients.
Children’s leadership claims that our only choice is to destroy Prouty Garden to maintain first-rate pediatric care. Sacrificing nature will not sustain medical excellence — it will lower our overall quality. We need to show the innovation, compassion and courage that has made Children’s No. 1 by saving Prouty Garden, making it integral to our improvements, and celebrating its dawn redwood as the symbol of the resilience, tenacity and reverence for life of Boston Children’s Hospital, our staff, our patients and their families.
