A man whose wife died following a surgical procedure to treat her colon cancer is suing the manufacturer of the surgical robot used during the operation, claiming that the device caused a fatal injury during the procedure.
Harvey Sultzer, the husband of the late Sandra Sultzer, filed a lawsuit against Intuitive Surgical (IS) on Feb. 6, alleging that his wife experienced health complications as a result of the procedure involving the surgical robot.
According to the lawsuit, Sandra underwent a surgical procedure at Baptist Health Boca Raton Regional Hospital in September 2021 to address her colon cancer, using the da Vinci robot, a remote-controlled device with multiple arms, designed to allow for precision and minimal invasion.
The lawsuit states that the da Vinci robot caused a hole in Sandra’s small intestine, leading to further medical interventions and ongoing abdominal pain and fever until her death in February 2022. Harvey Sultzer is seeking over $75,000 in damages for negligence, product liability, loss of consortium, and punitive damages from IS.
The lawsuit also alleges that IS was aware of insulation issues with the robot that could cause it to burn internal organs, and that the company did not disclose this risk to the Sultzer family or the public. Additionally, the suit claims that IS underreported injuries associated with the surgical robot to the FDA, despite receiving thousands of reports about injuries and defects linked to the device.
Moreover, the lawsuit accuses IS of selling its robots to hospitals without proper training for surgeons and claims that the company cannot legally compel surgeons to complete its training program.
The da Vinci surgical system, introduced in 1999, was one of the first surgical robots and was approved by the FDA in 2000. However, it has since faced numerous allegations of faults and has been the subject of multiple lawsuits.
The legal action filed by Harvey Sultzer against IS aims to address the reported negligence, product liability, and failure to warn regarding the da Vinci surgical robot, highlighting the tragic consequences in cases like that of Sandra Sultzer.
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