Hach & Rose is currently evaluating potential lawsuits for patients who had undergone surgical procedures in which the ‘Surgical Robot’ manufactured by Intuitive Surgical Inc. was used. ‘Da Vinci’ or Surgical Robotic technology is employed to facilitate an increasingly broad variety of surgical procedures, and is being used by surgeons to perform hysterectomies, prostate and gall bladder removals, thyroid cancer surgeries and various other surgical procedures.
Recent lawsuits allege that the use of this technology, wherein surgeons enter a patient’s body with robotic arms, has caused patients to suffer serious, even fatal injuries. Such injuries include but are not limited to intestinal burns and tears, punctured and cut uteri, bowel injuries, excessive hemorrhaging, and even death. In May of 2013, the manufacturer warned hospitals using the Da Vinci Surgical Robot system that the product may be putting patients at risk for burn injuries. The manufacturer warned that some versions of the system’s ‘Hot Shears’ may be prone to very small cracks creating a possible passageway for an electrical shock which could potentially cause burns and damage to healthy tissue and organs.
The cracks are potentially so small that they cannot be visible with the naked eye and the company had received a reported injury due to such cracking in the Hot Shears portion of the robotic device. Marketing of the Robotic Technology claims to provide patients of Surgical Robots with faster recovery periods, less scarring, minimal loss of blood and provides surgeons greater range of motion when performing difficult surgical procedures. According to the Chicago Tribune in February 2012, 250,000 hysterectomies and prostate surgeries were performed with the Robotic device in 2011.
If you or a loved one has undergone a ‘Da Vinci’ or ‘Surgical Robotic’ procedure and have suffered severe complications, we invite you to contact our office and speak with one of our highly skilled attorneys for an evaluation of your particular procedure.