Robotic surgeries are a modern marvel. New technology has allowed surgeons to perform difficult surgeries with fewer incisions and faster recovery times. While robotic surgery comes with a lot of benefits, surgical errors still happen, especially during gynecological procedures. That raises the question: How risky is robotic surgery?
Risk Rates
The use of surgical robots has effectively doubled over the past five years. In 2019, there were over 700,000 robotically-assisted surgeries across the United States. That means surgical robots are used in about 15% of all surgeries in the United States.
From those surgeries, there were about 2,000 injury cases filed across the country. By comparison, a study from John Hopkins suggests about 250,000 Americans lose their lives due to medical errors every year. Of those, surgical robots make up a very small percentage of cases.
Are the Machines Safe?
Surgical robots have been around for about 20 years, but their use has increase dramatically in the past 10 years. When they were first created, recalls and machine errors were common.
These days while defects in the robots themselves are rare, developing expertise in using the robots still requires considerable training and practice. Today, injuries from surgical robots are almost all caused by surgeon error, emphasizing the need to find a surgeon with extensive experience in the use of robots. However, the injuries that occur often carry long-term consequences, requiring additional surgeries to remedy, and often resulting in life-long disability and even death. For that reason, anyone injured during a robot-assisted operation should contact an experienced attorney immediately.
If you or someone you love suffered serious injuries or death due to a robotic surgery, we are here for you. If you’d like to schedule a free case consultation with an experienced Miami medical malpractice attorney from Rossman, Baumberger, Reboso & Spier, P.A., don’t hesitate to give us a call at (305) 900-5493 or send us an email.