The Legal Examiner Affiliate Network The Legal Examiner The Legal Examiner The Legal Examiner search instagram avvo phone envelope checkmark mail-reply spinner error close The Legal Examiner The Legal Examiner The Legal Examiner
Skip to main content

Hospitals across the country decided to purchase and utilize a surgical robot called the “da Vinci robot.” Hospitals purchased these robots despite the lack of peer-reviewed evidence that these robots were more effective, efficient than other forms of laparoscopic or open surgery. The result? A disturbing number of serious injuries to patients. For example, our Virginia medical malpractice law firm wrote about a patient who is now incontinent and forced to wear a colostomy bag because he was injured by a surgeon who used a da Vinci device and had very little training before using the robot.

The lack of proper training and aggressive promotion of the da Vinci surgical robot indicates that the proliferation of these devices is predicated on generating profit, not actually helping patients. Doctors in many hospitals present poor documentation when confronted with how they exactly chose to use a da Vinci robot on some patients. For example, their medical records and patient consent forms failed to expressly state the risks and benefits of using a da Vinci surgical robot instead of other forms of laparoscopic or open surgery, according to a runningahospital.blogspot.com.

Here's a video of a CNBC report discussing the growing safety concerns over the da Vinci robot:

So what does all of this mean? Well, it means that if you or a loved one underwent a surgical procedure and suffered an injury by a doctor who used a da Vinci surgical device, you may have grounds to pursue a medical malpractice injury claim against the doctor and/or hospital. Based on the facts available, it appears as though patient safety was not the priority when marketing and utilizing the da Vinci surgical robots. Instead, the priority was meeting sales goals and marketing objectives.

For more information about the da Vinci robot and serious medical malpractice injuries, take a look at our medical malpractice injury law firm’s blog focused exclusively on surgical errors and preventable medical mistakes..

About the Editors: Our personal injury law firm has offices in Virginia (VA) and North Carolina (NC). The attorneys with the firm publish and edit articles on three Legal Examiner sites for the geographic areas of Virginia Beach, Norfolk and Northeast North Carolina as a pro bono service to the general public.

Comments for this article are closed.