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Medicolegal Issues in Robotic Surgery

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Robotic-Assisted Minimally Invasive Surgery

Abstract

The da Vinci® Surgical System is designed to improve minimally invasive surgeries by providing surgeons with enhanced precision and visualization and by enabling procedures that were otherwise considered too challenging without a robotic instrument. When expertly performed, these robotic minimally invasive procedures can help provide patients optimized recoveries when compared to traditional open surgeries. Robotic surgery, specifically with devices like the da Vinci® Surgical System, has seen rapid expansion and growth since the early 2000s. However, as the frequency of robotic procedures grows, so do complaints of system malfunctions and reports of patient injuries that may lead to lawsuits against stakeholders which include the device manufacturer, the hospital or institutions and their staff, as well as the surgeons and their associates. Each of these stakeholders involved in robotic surgery is responsible to uphold the highest level of training and care available to help a patient achieve a good outcome. This chapter aims to provide an overview of these stakeholder responsibilities, as well as to attempt to differentiate what each stakeholder is and is not responsible for when it comes to a legal complaint.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of General Surgery, Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, NY, USA

    Elizabeth M. Hechenbleikner & Brian P. Jacob

  2. Department of General Surgery, Garlock Division of Surgery, Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, NY, USA

    Elizabeth M. Hechenbleikner

  3. Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Laparoscopic Surgical Center of New York, New York, NY, USA

    Brian P. Jacob

Authors
  1. Elizabeth M. Hechenbleikner
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  2. Brian P. Jacob
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Medicine, Department of Surgery, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV, USA

    Shawn Tsuda

  2. Department of General Surgery, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA

    Omar Yusef Kudsi

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Hechenbleikner, E.M., Jacob, B.P. (2019). Medicolegal Issues in Robotic Surgery. In: Tsuda, S., Kudsi, O. (eds) Robotic-Assisted Minimally Invasive Surgery . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96866-7_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96866-7_4

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-96865-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-96866-7

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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