In an article on May 4th in the Wall St. Journal there was huge investigative piece about hospitals using surgical robots more for marketing and competition than for the overall good of the patients. This doesn't mean that the robots don't have their place in an experienced surgeon's hands but I highly recommend you read it to understand how a NH hospital got caught up in the craze. I was so amazed to hear about this new type of arms race that I did a spoof in the next Placebo Journal called Hospital Robot Wars (see above image). Anyway, below was a particularly disturbing part of the article:
One of the surgeons featured in the hospital's robot advertisements was gynecologist Elizabeth Chase. In one newspaper ad in which she posed with a smiling patient, Dr. Chase was quoted as saying that the robot enabled her "to perform intricate surgery more safely."
One of the surgeons featured in the hospital's robot advertisements was gynecologist Elizabeth Chase. In one newspaper ad in which she posed with a smiling patient, Dr. Chase was quoted as saying that the robot enabled her "to perform intricate surgery more safely."
On March 2, 2009, Dr. Chase proctored another Wentworth gynecologist new to the robot, Rebecca Ann Banaski, during a routine hysterectomy. During the surgery, Dr. Banaski accidentally cut both of the patient's ureters with the robot, people familiar with the operation say.
The ureters are the tubes that connect the kidneys to the bladder. Cutting both ureters is considered a rare and serious surgical complication because it can cause the kidneys to shut down. The patient, a woman in her 40s, had to undergo four more procedures over the following eight months to repair the damage, the people with knowledge of the matter say.
After the incident, Wentworth-Douglass made Drs. Chase and Banaski undergo remedial training on the robot, the people familiar with the matter say. Dr. Chase was also temporarily barred from proctoring others and placed under the oversight of another surgeon when she resumed using the robot, they say.
When I first read this I even said to myself, "Dude, someone is getting sued for that". I call myself Dude a lot. Bad Big Lebowski habit that I can't seem to get rid of. Wouldn't you know it that I opened the paper the other day (May 28th) and the WSJ is reporting that the unnamed woman in the case (Sherry Long) has now filed a lawsuit against the hospital and the two surgeons. The hospital says it has not been served but believe me, if the WSJ says you've been served then You've Been Served! Okay, not a fan of that movie. Back to my point, and I do have one, does anyone else believe that just maybe a lawyer was reading the original WSJ article and said to himself or herself, "Ka-ching" (cash register sound)? I do. That is called ambulance chasing of the digital kind. You know what? I actually don't begrudge him or her since it really sound like Mrs. Long needed the help. Sometimes lawyers are needed.
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