Surgery robot burns hole in cancer patient's stomach, killing her

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
11 Feb 2024 12:23
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The lawsuit against the manufacturer states that the patient suffered a burn that tore her intestines during surgery.

Lead surgeon Vin Paleri conducts a robotic-assisted tongue base hemiglossectomy surgery on a patient during his visit to the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust in London, Jan. 10, 2018. (AP)

A cancer patient in Florida passed away after succumbing to injuries caused by a hospital’s surgical robot that burned a hole in her intestines during surgery, according to a lawsuit filed by her husband last week and obtained by the HuffPost.

Sandra Sultzer had colon cancer and was admitted to Baptist Health Boca Raton Regional Hospital in Boca Raton, Florida, in 2021 for surgery, in which her doctor used a da Vinci robotic system.

The hospital was a defendant in the civil case but was not named. However, Intuitive Surgical Inc. (ISI), the manufacturer of the robotic device, was accused of negligence and product liability.

In the lawsuit, it is stated that Sultzer suffered a burn that tore her small intestines during surgery and that ISI was well aware of its da Vinci system’s insulation issues, which can cause electricity leakage into a patient's body. The hospital and staff were not notified of this defect.

Sultzer continued to suffer abdominal pain and fever after the surgery and underwent several medical procedures as a result.

“The injury suffered by Mrs. Sultzer caused her pain and emotional distress,” the lawsuit said, adding, “Mrs. Sultzer incurred expense of medical care, hospitalization, treatment, nursing care and treatment, and the expense of rehabilitative care and treatment.”

'Bullying' to sell

Sultzer died in February 2022, caused by a “direct and proximate result of the injuries she suffered” from the device, according to the lawsuit.

The suit claimed, “Had ISI safely designed its product so that stray electrical energy would not burn the insides of patients without the knowledge or control of the operating surgeons, the small intestine injury to Mrs. Sultzer would not have happened, and she would not have died."

ISI has already received thousands of reports citing “dangerous injuries", such as internal organ burns, allegedly caused by the electrical discharge. Even a recent Securities and Exchange Commission report shows that it was named in numerous liability lawsuits across the US for patients injured or who have passed away from the robot's fault.

The lawsuit also claims that ISI “bullies hospitals and physicians to purchase and use the robot.”

A 2018 report by NBC News demonstrates that ISI even offers a training program to operate the robot, but the investigation found that it was not legally required to complete it.