Robot Surgery Damaging Patients Rises With Marketing

[swag]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-08/robot-surgery-damaging-patients-rises-with-marketing.html

By Robert Langreth - Oct 7, 2013 9:00 PM PT .

Porter Adventist Hospital in Denver announced last year that Warren Kortz, a general surgeon on the medical staff, was the first in the Rocky Mountain region to use a technique known as robotic surgery to remove gall bladders through one incision in the belly button.

The operation, performed while the doctor sits at a video-game-like console, was “taking advantage of another breakthrough in robotic surgery” and is “easier on the patient,” the hospital said in a press release.

Teresa Hershey, 41 years old, of Bermuda Dunes, California, knew nothing about robotic surgery when her doctor proposed it as an alternative to standard hysterectomy. Source: Teresa Hershey via Bloomberg

“It’s Star Wars stuff,” Kortz was quoted as saying in another article put out by the hospital touting another operation, robot-assisted parathyroid surgery, in 2010. “My prediction is it will eventually replace everything else.”

What the hospital and Kortz didn’t reveal was the risk. Even as Kortz promoted robotic surgery, 10 patients he treated suffered injuries or complications between 2008 and 2011, according to an April complaint by the Colorado Medical Board. Five had arteries punctured or torn. Objects were temporarily left inside two, and others had nerve damage. One died and another needed cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The complaint charges Kortz with 14 counts of unprofessional conduct, including sometimes not advising patients on alternatives to the robot.

. . . more

[nikto]

1. OK, I won't let...

R2D2 do my appendectomy.

[CCPprintingYE]

2. Robot can't replace human beings

Robot is very clever, but can not replace human in many places, let the robot to see a doctor, sometimes there is a big risk. Robot is made but not to be replace human beings.It just service more to people.

[Rhiannon12866]

5. Welcome to DU!

It's great to have you with us!

[gopiscrap]

6. Welcome to DU

[DeSwiss]

3. And unlike in a video game.....

...there are no extra lives awarded to help you get to Level 2.

[Recursion]

4. This article is useless. What's the *rate* of injury, and how does it compare to normal surgery?

Simply saying "injuries go up as a technique gets more popular" doesn't tell us anything.

[jsr]

7. Recommend