Hospitals Buy $1.7M Robot to Stay Competitive, but Clinical Gain is Unclear
March 09, 2010
Hospitals feel compelled to buy the $1.7 million da Vinci robot surgery system to stay competitive, despite lack of clear evidence that it is superior to other surgery, according to a report by the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
Hamilton Medical Center, a 282-bed hospital in Dalton, Ga., installed a da Vinci in September after losing hundreds of urology and gynecology patients for robotic surgeries to Atlanta or Chattanooga hospitals.
The number of da Vinci systems installed worldwide has risen from 210 in 2003 to 1,395 last year, and hospital ads boast about the new system, including a billboard in Macon Ga., that reads "Miracle Surgery."
But clinical evidence of the da Vinci's clinical effectiveness does not live up to the hype, according to the author of a study in the Journal of Urology comparing minimally invasive prostate removal surgeries by the da Vinci and other methods to open surgeries.
Read the Chattanooga Times Free Press' report on the da Vinci robot.
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