'Unreasonably Dangerous' Surgical Robot Fatally Burned Cancer Patient, Lawsuit Alleges
A woman lies in a hospital bed.Photo:Getty Getty A woman died when a surgical robot burned her during colon cancer surgery, eventually causing her death, a new lawsuit against the manufacturer of the surgical robot claims. “These instruments consist of forceps, scissors, scalpels and other surgical tools. Some of these instruments use electrical energy to cut and cauterize living body tissue,” the lawsuit claims. It’s that electrical energy that caused her death, her widower, Harvey Sultzer, charges in the lawsuit, which says the manufacturer knew the insulation used on its electrosurgical instruments was “insufficient to reliably prevent electricity from leaking into the body and causing internal burns to patients....