Are Medical Robots Safe?

We understand that cases of medical malpractice occur in Sacramento and throughout California every day. There are instances where patients suffer injuries or die due to preventable mistakes made by medical professionals. Every time a patient undergoes any type of medical procedure or is administered medication of any type, there is the risk for serious injury due to the negligent, reckless or careless acts of medical providers.

Doctors cannot guarantee that nothing will go wrong during surgery or that a patient will not suffer a bad outcome, as there are inherent risks in every medical procedure. However, patients should never have to worry about suffering a life-threatening or disability injury because a doctor or a nurse was not paying attention to the patient’s condition or was distracted during surgery .

While most of the medical malpractice cases that we see in Sacramento stem from the acts or omissions of a human being, medical malpractice cases can also stem from defective medical devices, unsafe medications and malfunctioning medical equipment. One of the newest areas that we may see in medical malpractice cases deals with the use of medical robots to perform surgery.

Medical robots are intended to remove some of the potential for human error during surgery and reduce the number of surgical errors that occur each year in California hospitals. However, are these robots safe to use in the operating room? Companies that manufacture surgical robots assure doctors and patients that the robots are safe to use. However, the U. S. Food and Drug Administration has received complaints about the use of surgical robots by patients, medical providers and healthcare companies. In response to the complaints, the FDA asked doctors across the United States to complete a survey about the use of robots during surgery.

Of course, these robots do not perform surgeries without the assistance of a human. The doctor maneuvers the robot using a console and watches the procedure from a display. The robots are intended to assist surgeons and reduce the risk of human error that causes injury to patients. While the robots have been approved for use, there have already been claims of errors and injury when doctors use the robots during surgery.

As the use of surgery robots increase, we may find that they help reduce the number of medical malpractice cases or we may see an entirely new area of medical malpractice law. If you believe that you or a loved one has been injured because of the use of a surgical robot, you should contact an experienced medical malpractice attorney in California to discuss your legal options. The attorney will be able to explain the process of filing a medical malpractice claim and what damages you may be entitled to collect.

As advances in the medical field continue to expand, medical malpractice attorneys will continue to research and investigate how these advances will affect medical malpractice law. Experienced personal injury attorneys understand the importance of staying ahead of advances in the medical field to protect their clients.