In my experience there are usually very sound reasons why medical products are single-use, reposable, or reusable. The scalpel is a good example of a product that was once nearly 100% reusable and is now more often disposable. It is a complicated analysis but when overall carbon foot-print is analyzed (materials, manufacturing, sterilization-energy use, water use, chemical creation and treatment etc) it is sometimes the case that disposable wins over reusable. There are many exceptions. And there are many ways for the medical community to be act more sustainably. But I think there are also even easier and more obvious places to look to make a difference if we were to be serious about being more “green”; NASCAR comes to mind, as one example.