As more and more Arizona patients have robotic surgeries that are touted as being safer because they are minimally invasive, they may not be aware that there are risks involved with such reliance. A new study demonstrated that 144 people died during the 14-year period encompassing the period from 2000 to 2013 due to the use of robotics.
The researchers were from MIT, Rush University Medical Center as well as the University of Illinois. They reviewed data from over 10,000 incident reports made to the FDA over the study’s time period and found that robotic surgeries resulted in 144 deaths and 1,391 patient injuries.
In 14.7 percent of the cases, broken or burnt pieces fell inside of the patients during the surgery. In 10.5 percent of the cases, patients were seriously injured due to electrical sparking of the instrument. Finally, in 8.6 percent of the cases, which resulted in two deaths and 55 injuries alone, the injuries were caused when the robotic instrument moved in a way the doctor did not intend.
Even with minimally invasive surgical techniques, surgical errors can clearly still cause serious injuries or even deaths to patients. A person who has suffered a serious injury during a robotic surgery may want to seek a consultation with a medical malpractice attorney. Legal counsel may review the victim’s patient records and obtain the opinions of medical records in order to make an initial determination of whether it is likely that malpractice occurred. Potential damages that may be sought in an ensuing lawsuit could include past and future medical expenses, ongoing treatment needs, pain and suffering and other amounts.