A Woman In BC Is Canada's First Patient To Be Diagnosed As Suffering From 'Climate Change'

A woman in her 70s is Canada's first patient to be diagnosed as suffering from "climate change."

The woman, who lives on a trailer in B.C., was diagnosed during the extreme heat and wildfires the province experienced in late June when she entered the ER department at Kootenay Lake Hospital in Nelson, B.C, struggling to breathe.

Dr. Kyle Merrit, head of the ER department, told Stefan Labbe of North Shore News: "She has diabetes. She has some heart failure. … She lives in a trailer, no air conditioning. All of her health problems have all been worsened. And she's really struggling to stay hydrated."

North Shore News reported that Dr. Merritt wrote the words "climate change" on the woman's patient chart — the first time he had done this in his 10 years as a physician.

He said he knew that wildfire smoke, which had plagued much of the province for several days, had exacerbated the woman's asthma.

In a B.C. Coroners Service report on November 1, Chief coroner Lisa Lapointe released updated numbers suggesting that 595 people died in B.C. during the extreme heat over the summer.