- BERLIN -- More than 100 Germans
are claiming their lives have been ruined by surgical equipment, known
as Robodoc, designed to perform surgery far more accurately than a human.
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- A class action lawsuit has been launched by the alleged
victims, who say the Robodoc has severed vital muscles and nerves while
carrying out delicate bone surgery.
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- Many now say they are so crippled from the effects of
the equipment, originally designed for the car industry, that they can
no longer walk properly.
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- Investigations into Robodoc's performance started at
the beginning of the year after retired Frankfurt politician Erna-Maria
Goetz was left with severe walking difficulties after a routine hip replacement
operation.
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- The 67-year-old former councillor said: "I was persuaded
by my surgeon, Professor Martin Boerner, to let the new robot carry out
the operation. This was in 1997. Since then I haven't been able to walk
properly and am in constant pain."
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- Speaking from her wheelchair she pointed to her leg to
show where Robodoc severed muscles. She said: "You can see where Robodoc
sliced them in half, they are just useless now. I have to take a permanent
drugs cocktail to keep away the pain."
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- At least 130 other alleged victims claim the robotic
surgeon has left them partially disabled, and have now grouped together
to fight for compensation and to get a ban placed on the equipment.
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- And one hospital, the University Clinic in Halle, in
the east of Germany, is understood to have mothballed its Robodoc after
finding 25% of the 39 operations it had performed ended with complications.
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- Lawyers Christian Reuchler and Dr Jochen Grund, who have
taken on the case, said they were gathering evidence which would allow
them to claim substantial damages.
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- Reuchler said: "This is the first time legal action
has ever been taken against a robot doctor, and I am sure it will not be
the last."
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- Grund added: "The evidence is overwhelming, and
if the courts accept our case then they will have to accept that this robotic
surgeon should never have been allowed to work on human patients."
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- But Professor Martin Boerner, from the Federal Accident
and Emergency Clinic in Frankfurt, said: "We believe that these complications
were not as a result of the work by the robot, but are down to other factors."
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- He said the 18 Robodocs in use throughout Germany had
notched up about 12,000 hip operations between them.
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- The Robodoc's manufacturers in California said new software
had been provided that made the machinery better, but denied that the problems
were caused by the machine itself, although they admitted it had not yet
obtained a licence to perform operations in the US.
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- ©2003 Scotsman.com
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- http://www.news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1102642003
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