As I was coming home from Roseville yesterday I nearly drove into the median! Why you ask? A HUGE sign on the side of Regions Hospital in St. Paul grabbed my attention for longer than I should have had my eyes off the road. The sign was announcing Robot Assisted Surgery. Are you kidding me? Seriously, is this going to be a draw for people to have their surgeries at Regions Hospital? I guess it’s possible that robots make less mistakes than people do but there is just something weird about the idea of a robot handing my surgeon his instruments.
I think the sign is a ploy for Regions to get more patients. I mean, had I not corrected my course I would have hit that median, and which hospital is the closest trauma hospital? Regions. Hmmm…be very careful when driving down 35E. You really DON’T want to be one of the first patients to have robot assisted surgery. Let them work the bugs out first.
My Grandpa Erickson just had his bladder removed yesterday b/c he has/had bladder cancer. They actually used robots during his surgery! Apparently robotics can assist with the small intricate details of a surgery. It’s amazing what they can do now!! Oh, and his 10 hour surgery went well, and there were no complications!
Erin
The robot is not literally an autonomous being. Think about it this way – it can increase a surgeon’s precision by eliminating jitters, etc.