Ear, nose and throat specialist Christopher Chang, MD, blogged about a Newark Star-Ledger story he saw about “surgeons on the cutting edge in fight against sleep apnea” using robotic surgery.
Chang wrote:
“My feeling is that using a robot to perform sleep apnea surgery is way overkill akin to using a $50,000 sniper rifle to kill an ant on the wall.
Everything the daVinci robot can do can also be done without the robot with equivalent patient outcomes. In fact, without the robot, the surgery can be performed more quickly, efficiently, and with less anesthesia than with the robot.
There are occasions where the robot may be helpful with ENT (ear, nose, throat) surgical procedures, but this is not one of them.”
You can search on our blog and find many other examples of robotic surgery hype.
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I miss @HealthNewsRevu popping up in my feed. Loved seeing this one today.
https://www.healthnewsreview.org/2021/06/zombie-health-care-news/
#healthcare #journalism #ethics #conflictofinterest
Puleeeeease... this 'game changer' weight loss drug causes more nausea and vomiting than a placebo. Some game, some change. My friend Gary would spank you for using the eighth word medical reporters should never, ever use. @garyschwitzer @thackerpd
https://www.healthnewsreview.org/toolkit/just-journalists-writing-tips-case-studies/7-words-and-more-you-shouldnt-use-in-medical-news/ https://twitter.com/OttawaCitizen/status/1361426796126830597
A scary @statnews Op-Ed warns that govt attempts to rein in Pharma may cut off access to "life-changing" drugs.
It takes @garyschwitzer to let us know: the author spent 10 years as Pfizer's public-policy chief. https://twitter.com/garyschwitzer/status/1360325022578053123
Comments (4)
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Pdm68
January 6, 2012 at 2:57 pmSo,tell us how ? All he says is it’s using a high power rifle to kill an ant but never told us anything scientific to back it up
Gary Schwitzer
January 6, 2012 at 3:16 pmI guess you missed what he wrote: “Everything the daVinci robot can do can also be done without the robot with equivalent patient outcomes. In fact, without the robot, the surgery can be performed more quickly, efficiently, and with less anesthesia than with the robot.”
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