A 26-year-old dental student in Connecticut died in an intensive care unit that was overseen by a remote "tele-health" doctor who pronounced him dead on a video screen, a lawsuit says.
The issue is that these surgical robots are a goldmine for companies specializing in medical devices. I work for one. They look fancy, they’re available to buy on loan if you can’t afford the several million dollars, and they sound modern.
Meanwhile, the instruments are not cross-compatible (meaning you can’t run Medtronic instruments on a US Medtech robot, for instance), so while they’re reusable and sterilizable (unlike most other handheld devices which are designed to be one-case-only), you have to buy a whole suite of endocutters, staplers, and whatever else you want that robot to be able to do in order to make it do that. PLUS there’s a proprietary computer system, an imaging system, the software to run those, often a televisual rig at the other end for the surgeon to run…you can get really pricey for these, real quick, and that’s not to mention the staple cartridges, the trocars, all sorts of stuff that can be proprietary.
No, that was the pitch. I remember it just like you do.
It just…isn’t working like that right now.
Doesn’t mean the technology can’t do that. Just means there’s capitalism in the way.
“This is the song that never ends…it just goes on and on my friend”
The issue is that these surgical robots are a goldmine for companies specializing in medical devices. I work for one. They look fancy, they’re available to buy on loan if you can’t afford the several million dollars, and they sound modern.
Meanwhile, the instruments are not cross-compatible (meaning you can’t run Medtronic instruments on a US Medtech robot, for instance), so while they’re reusable and sterilizable (unlike most other handheld devices which are designed to be one-case-only), you have to buy a whole suite of endocutters, staplers, and whatever else you want that robot to be able to do in order to make it do that. PLUS there’s a proprietary computer system, an imaging system, the software to run those, often a televisual rig at the other end for the surgeon to run…you can get really pricey for these, real quick, and that’s not to mention the staple cartridges, the trocars, all sorts of stuff that can be proprietary.