| Home | Title Page | Introduction | Background | Technology Benefits | Technology Concerns | Conclusion | Bibliography |
Legal and Ethical Issues
As robotic surgery expands, the legal and ethical issues that follow it also grow in number and complexity. One major concern is the culture of health care. The goal of healthcare is to respect the patient's decision, not cause any harm to the patient quality of life, and to benefit the patient using medicine. Patients rely ultimately on their doctors and surgeons to achieve their desired outcomes. The addition of robotic surgery requires a whole new level of trust on behalf of both parties. That brings up ethical questions such as: are robots replacing humans and are humans in danger of losing their jobs to robots (Dickens, 2006)? Can people refuse robotic surgery and opt for an actual surgeon? Is the surgeon trained enough to operate the machine? These are just some of the ethical concerns that have been on the rise. Other ethical concerns include, if robots are negatively affecting the doctor-patient relationship because it takes away from face to face interaction, and, if the machine can deliver a reliable and effective outcome while prioritizing safety of the patient and surgical team and keep the patient's treatment confidential (Dickens, 2006).
As mentioned before, robotic machinery is a new technology that is being investigated and is on an experimental trial which can create a conflict with patients and involve the law. It is required that patients are informed of all aspects of their surgery and if a robot is being used. In the event of mishap, liability falls on the physician, the hospital, and the manufacturer of the robot. There is much heightened risk in the acceptance of using robots to perform surgery. Predominantly, risk and liability are at the decision of the doctor. For example, Dickens' (2006) states, "Telesurgery" have raised legal issues because when physicians get their license, they get a specific license to practice in a specific area (p. 75).
Altogether, robotic surgery creates many controversies and in order to address many of these legal and ethical issues, many people from different fields of study will be required to read into Code of Ethics to make sure they do not compromise ethical rules of healthcare. It certainly will take a long time to address all of the ethical questions because robotic surgery needs to prove that it is safe and effective.
Security Concerns
Concerns regarding patients' security raise questions of its own. Can the machine ensure confidentiality of the patient’s record? Dickens' (2006) states, "Confidentiality is at risk due to means of electronic eavesdropping" (p. 77). This is due to the machine collecting and entering patient's data, it is especially more risky if the machine is sending patient's information via telecommunications line for the surgeon to access it. Another concern is the possibility of machine and technical failure during an operation which can lead to serious medical malpractice. Similar to legal and ethical issues, it will take long to conclude if robotic surgery will raise additional security concerns.
Social Problems
Robotic surgery has sparked up social problems with patients, physicians, scientists, and the general public. Everybody's first concern is safety and its reliability, which some people agree and others disagree. The second concern is how experienced is the surgeon in robotic experience. There is no set standard of how many operations that needs to be done to master the robotic machine, which concerns people because it is unknown how qualified the surgeon is (Quintero, 2010). Nonetheless, physicians states that patients should look at the surgeon's credentials and surgical experience instead of machine they use. Dr. Patel once stated, "Any tool in the hand of a doctor is a bad tool if they're not well trained. If they're well trained, robotic surgery is a wonderful way to have surgery" (Quintero, 2010).
Further Required Research
At the moment, there are numerous research and investigation occurring to eliminate the hurdles and to understand the full potential of the robot. Dr. Lanfranco (2004) states, "The future of robotics in surgery is limited only by imagination," (par.34), because there are new robotic systems being developed. It is speculated that the future system will do most of the work while the surgeon supervises. Thus, only time will tell whether robotic surgery will become the primary way of operating or if operating manually will continue as is.