With the advancement of technology many changes are made in the lives of people, for example the introduction of cellular phones has resulted in better communication even in the most remote areas of a country or continent. The same is true with the medical field. There has been a noticeable increase in the use of surgical robots to carry out various medical operations such as surgeries that require precision that cannot be achieved otherwise by the hand of a human surgeon. In the past if a patient was injured in surgery by a negligent doctor they would respond by filing a medical malpractice lawsuit. However, with the introduction and use of surgical robots it becomes necessary for the ‘patient to sue the robot; or at least the robot manufacturer’.

One article stated the following with regard to the use of surgical robots; “Surgical robots, because they can be steady and more precise than human surgeons, often becoming the preferred tool for laparoscopic procedures such as coronary artery bypass, excising tumor tissue, gallbladder surgery, artificial hip installation, hysterectomy, kidney removal and transplant, mitral valve repair. Machine surgical advances have achieved tremendous results for patients.”

The same article poses the following statement, “but when the machines are not successful, because humans are involved in the use of these machines, the question of whether negligence played an underlying role in the failure remains.” While the machine itself cannot be found to be negligent in the actions it has performed, it is easy to trace back to the human who wrote a source code, inspected and maintained the machine, manufactured it or even supervised its activity by way of inputting data into the machine. It is as a result of human interventions resulting in patient injury that people seeking justice through lawsuits under both medical malpractice law and products liability law.

One article reported that, “The top manufacturer of surgical robots has already been confronted with lawsuits from hundreds of different parties...because there have already been a large number of claims filed, and with the continued and expanded use of surgical robots more are expected, the manufacturer has set aside over $100 million to deal with these suits.” Surgical robots are complex machines and as a result are prone to design defects, manufacturing defects and marketing defects. As such at any point in the process of the design, manufacture and marketing of the surgical robot something could go wrong leading to a defective medical device and strict liability claim

A Crowson Law Group attorney commented on how injuries caused by surgical robots can rise to the level of medical malpractice, “Because surgical robots are not fully autonomous they require highly-trained surgeons to still operate these devices. Due to the human factor being a part of the process any mistakes in the surgical procedure or other area may still rise to medical malpractice.”

By a patient filing a products liability claim against the surgical robot they are inadvertently saying that the manufacturer failed in a number of ways. Such as insufficient testing, inadequate training of technicians, a violation of consumer protection statutes, etc.
If you have suffered injury at the hands of a surgical robot or a surgical robot technician speak to the best personal injury law firms in Anchorage Alaska that handle medical malpractice cases.