By Thamanna Hussain
Improper training is a common allegation in suits against Intuitive Surgical, including our McCalla wrongful death suit. The American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopists, now known as AAGL, is expected to offer its first robot training guidelines for hospitals this spring. The medical organization calls for hospitals to mandate physicians to perform at least 10 surgeries with the supervision of an experienced doctor, before being able to successfully perform surgeries on their own. Many of the injury reports included 70 deaths since 2009, due to the lack of training and procedures involved during the surgery. Would calling for enhanced physical training and better disclosure to patients of potential risks decrease the number of injuries due to robotic surgery? Certainly the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine believes this as they have published a report discussing increased side effects linked to inadequate training.
