Are Robotic Surgeons Killing Patients? New Data Reveals Alarming Safety Concerns Amid Surge in AI-Assisted Surgeries

[Today's Highlights]

○1 Docway Raises $1.7 Million for Remote Psychiatric Treatment
○ Bright.md raises $3.5 million in its first round of financing
○ UK hospitals use SensiumVitals wearable patches to monitor vital signs
○ Does your robot doctor have sufficient medical malpractice insurance?

1. 1docway Raises $1.7 Million for Remote Neurotherapy
New York-based 1docway recently secured $1.7 million in financing. Founded in 2011, the company has developed a web-based telemental health platform that connects hospitals with community health centers, skilled nursing facilities, military bases, and other medically underserved settings to provide mental health services to patients. Users can access the platform via smartphones, tablets, and desktop computers to consult with physicians through video conferencing. The service also offers physicians features for scheduling appointments and storing medical data.


“We do not serve consumers directly,” said Samir Malik, CEO of 1docway. “We help hospitals with neurology specialists connect with nursing homes and smaller hospitals that lack neurology services, leveraging technology to deliver their expertise to facilities in urgent need of neurological care but without access to such specialists.”

In the first half of 2015, services provided by 1docway helped treat 20,000 patients and are now available across 11 U.S. states.

2. bright.md Raises $3.5 Million in Series A Funding
Bright.md is a non-acute care telemedicine company that raised $3.5 million in its initial round of funding. The company has developed a software platform called SmartExam, which reduces physicians’ time commitment and improves efficiency. Founded in January 2014, Bright.md offers the SmartExam software system, which connects patients with their physicians. Patients can access the system online or via mobile devices. When patients log into the Bright.md portal, the system prompts them to answer a series of questions about their condition, select a pharmacy, and enter insurance or billing information.


In this way, physicians are alerted to patients awaiting care. They can review all data entered by the patient, as well as the patient’s responses to backend questions. Bright.md then sends the physician’s consultation summary to the patient; if necessary, it directly transmits the prescription to the pharmacy and schedules a follow-up visit for the patient. The entire process takes approximately two minutes of the physician’s time.

3. UK Hospitals Use SensiumVitals Wearable Patches to Monitor Vital Signs
The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) has launched a pilot program to evaluate the role of vital signs monitors, enabling faster detection and intervention for clinical deterioration in postoperative patients wearing sensor patches.


The device used in the pilot is the SensiumVitals wearable patch. This device is a low-power patch sensor applied to the chest, incorporating ECG electrodes and an axillary temperature probe-like component. It measures heart rate, respiratory rate, and body temperature. This data is transmitted to the SensiumVitals system, which allows for the configuration of alarm thresholds. For instance, if the temperature threshold is set at 38°C and a patient’s temperature reaches 38.2°C, the system will send an alert to nurses via web interface or SMS and automatically document the information in the hospital’s electronic medical record (EMR).

A significant limitation of this study is that 50% of the respiratory rate data were rejected by the system due to poor quality. Many currently used telemetry systems have become a burden for patients, causing discomfort. Emerging platforms like this one, which take into account the experiences of end-users, are truly a boon for patients.

4. Does your robotic doctor have sufficient medical malpractice insurance?
Here is an interesting statistic: In a report submitted to the FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration), among more than 10,000 medical events involving robotic surgeons, there were 144 deaths and 1,391 injuries.


Despite the widespread adoption of robotic minimally invasive surgery, the technical challenges and incidence of complications associated with robotic procedures remain significant. These technical difficulties include instrument malfunction or fragmentation within the patient’s body, as well as sudden, unexpected robotic movements.

Robotic surgeons are killing people. Or, people are using robots incorrectly. Either way, the robots will not be punished, but the doctors and hospitals that use them will face legal sanctions.