Robotic surgery in the context of Sample Clauses

Robotic surgery in the context of medical practice Most surgical robots are based on a master-slave control concept. As already said, the da Vinci system consists of two units: the surgeon’s console unit and the second unit made up of four slave manipulators; through a telemanipulator the movement of the surgeon from the master console are exactly replicated by the arms of the robot (slave). There are well reported cases in medical literature of system breakdowns which have imposed to convert a robotic-assisted intervention to open surgery or to the conventional laparoscopic surgery. But a system malfunction could even injure the organs of the patient, for example, with a sudden and uncontrolled movement of the robot’s arm which has not been put into action by the surgeon. In a similar hypothesis, if the robotic-assisted operation does not have a positive outcome because of a malfunctioning of the machine, the hospital (public or private) must initially bear the costs deriving from the compensation of the damages suffered by the patient. In fact, according to the general principle of the law of obligations, the hospital is responsible not only for the behaviour (and the mistakes) of his doctors, but also for the means employed in the execution of its – surgical – performance. At the same time, it would be unfair to burden the patient with the weight and costs of a legal action against the robot manufacturer; in fact, the patient may not be able to acquire the necessary information in order to demonstrate the malfunctioning of the device, not having access to the needed technical data.