Intercontinental Robot Surgery

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/1370875.stm
Article in BBC News
June 5th, 2001

Doctors have been able to control robotic surgery systems such as the Da Vinci, thousands of miles away and perform “telesurgery” on patients anywhere in the world. This article is the first to document an instance in which “telesurgery” was actually performed. 17 patients undergoing surgery at Rome’s Policlinico Casilino University benefited from the “telesurgery” performed by US doctors. The US doctors used a combination of computers, telecommunications, video conferencing, and surgical robots to perform surgery on patients thousands of miles away. 14 of the patients underwent laparoscopies and three others underwent surgery on the kidneys. In several of the procedures, telesurgical connection was actually stopped and doctors at the primary site finished the operation.
While this article showcases the possibility of “telesurgery” with surgical robots it reveals one of the glaring complications that could show up with “telesurgery”. “Telesurgery” depends wholly on technology and we must ask ourselves is this technology reliable enough for us to risk a human life with? I understand the many benefits of “telesurgery” including not having to travel to get operated on by a famous specialist and doctors being able to perform more surgeries, helping more people; but I seriously question the fact that we are placing human lives totally in the hands of technology. There are many things that can go wrong with such advanced technology and this was seen in the article when the telesurgical concoction actually got cut off and the surgery had to be continued by doctors in the operating room. Telesurgery raises many questions. How can we ensure that the connection between the doctor at the helm and the surgical robot is reliable? How do we ensure that what the doctor is telling the robot to do the robot is actually performing? And when something goes wrong who do we blame? The doctor who is controlling the robot thousands of miles away or the robot who is actually performing the surgery? We must first answer all these questions before we even think about putting telesurgery into widespread use.