The Negative Effects Of Robotic Surgery

“Back in 2000, there were only 1,000 robotic surgeries world-wide. That number surged to 360,000 in 2011 and 450,000 last year” (Pinkerton). Is robotic surgery going to be the way to go? What is robotic surgery? Is the recovery quicker than a normal procedure? Are there more risks? Is robotic surgery more precise and costly? Robotic surgery has recently become the most popular surgical procedure around. It is used by many surgeons around the world for surgeries such as, “hysterectomies, cervical cancer, and endometriosis” (Robotics Surgeries on the Rise). Robotic surgery is a form of surgery where a robotic device is used to assist a physician in the physical presence of the patient. In the NBC news report, Robotic Surgeries on the Rise,

Just as health care and the medical field develops, robotic surgery is becoming more advanced and popular as time progresses. Even though robotic surgery appears and is said to be more advanced, just like any health care device, it comes with positive and negative effects. During an interview with Shirley DeWinter, a previous patient who went thru robotic surgery explain her experience by stating, “I healed faster and was able to recover within 6 weeks” (DeWinter). One of the many commonly known positive effects of robotic surgery is that it has a quicker recovery time than a normal procedure would. This has created the patients, physicians, and surgeons to have a positive outlook towards these surgical procedures. Shirley DeWinter continues in her interview, “I had bruises for almost two weeks… I had to sign off on surgery risks” (DeWinter). For Shirley DeWinter and many other patients, these robotic procedures caused bruises to appear on the patient near the incisions. Like many surgeries and medical procedures, patients are required to sign a risk and consent form. If something went wrong during the procedure, the patient could not do anything about it because they had to sign such a

As Lauren Dyrda states, “The company announced last year that 118 patients had more than 590 screws implanted at the University Medical Center Mainz in Germany with 99 percent accuracy” (Dyrda). According to Dyrda robotic surgeons have placed screws more accurately than non-robotic surgeons. This proves that robotic surgery is more accurate than a human being doing the procedure with their own hands. The average cost of robotic surgery is anywhere between seven thousand and nine thousand dollars. Shirley DeWinter states, “I had to reserve the operating room for four hours” (DeWinter). The time of robotic surgery is even longer than a hand operation which makes the cost of the surgery rise. As the reporter states, “A recent study in a major medical journal found that the robotic surgery did not reduce complication rates for hysterectomy, though it did add over two thousand more dollars to the cost of the surgery” (Robotic Surgeries on the Rise). By using a robot for the surgical procedure it causes the cost of surgery to rise drastically. Therefore, this causes a limited amount of patients to be able to receive robotic surgery due to financial limitations. One thing that you need to consider is if your insurance company will cover for some of the surgeries. Robotic surgery costs a lot more than a regular