Hi-- I have read a little bit about some WLS being done robotically and wondered if they do lap bands with robots-- or just the more complicated surgeries? Has anyone had a robot performed surgery instead of the more traditional surgeon hands on surgery? And if so, would you kindly share your experiences.

Thanks

The hospital where my surgery was done has robots available, and my surgeon offered to let them do my surgery that way if I wanted them to. I politely declined. Given the effort and artistry involved of moving organs around inside my body in order to install the band I wanted to make sure a living, breathing human was doing the work. The last thing I wanted to be worried about was a robot slicing into some vital organ or whatever, and leaving me in a mess. I had enough other things to be worried about. My surgery went off without a hitch, and I was really happy with the results. I don't know whether they used robots during the surgery for anything - they didn't tell me if they did.

Dave

My surgery was done by a Doctor but I wouldn't have minded if a robot did the surgery. I took a class last semester about technology in health care and I learned a lot about them. Most robots are still operated by a doctor, just from a distance. Everything is planned out by the doctor before hand and it only has a limited range of motion from where the operation is being done so if the robot does mess up, it's still the doctors fault. And, actually, a robot will have steadier hands than a doctor will and would be able to perform in a quicker fashion. In some cases, it might be better to have a robot do the surgery. I would've trusted it. Haha.

My surgery was done by a Doctor but I wouldn't have minded if a robot did the surgery. I took a class last semester about technology in health care and I learned a lot about them. Most robots are still operated by a doctor, just from a distance. Everything is planned out by the doctor before hand and it only has a limited range of motion from where the operation is being done so if the robot does mess up, it's still the doctors fault. And, actually, a robot will have steadier hands than a doctor will and would be able to perform in a quicker fashion. In some cases, it might be better to have a robot do the surgery. I would've trusted it. Haha.

They didn't bother telling me that kind of information. The surgeon basically said, "I'll be doing your surgery. Or, if you don't trust me, we can have one of our robots do it. Your choice." Um, hello? With no greater understanding than that, my choice was obvious. If I'd known what you did, I may have chosen differently. It worked out fine, but still makes me wonder...

Dave

Haha... I would have thought it would be the other way around. Like, "the robot will be doing your surgery... But if you don't trust him, i'll do it." my first thought would be to say no to the robot. But then again, I know no details. Details would probably make one a little more comfortable with the idea...

They didn't bother telling me that kind of information. The surgeon basically said, "I'll be doing your surgery. Or, if you don't trust me, we can have one of our robots do it. Your choice." Um, hello? With no greater understanding than that, my choice was obvious. If I'd known what you did, I may have chosen differently. It worked out fine, but still makes me wonder...

Dave

Hi-- I have read a little bit about some WLS being done robotically and wondered if they do lap bands with robots-- or just the more complicated surgeries? Has anyone had a robot performed surgery instead of the more traditional surgeon hands on surgery? And if so, would you kindly share your experiences.

Thanks

This is so not about the lap band surgery, but I feel compelled to post! My 10 year old son has Cerebral Palsy and has two shunts in his brain. His last shunt replacement was done by a robot. I had no idea until his surgeon (that has been doing his surgeries since he was 2 weeks old) came out and told me everything went great and the robot performed this surgery. While I too, would have typically preferred my son's surgeon to do the surgery, I feel confident that if he approves of the robot, then I have nothing to worry about! Times are definitely changing!

Good luck!!

Way too scary for me. I'm old school!

I'm just indignant that if they can have a robot perform SURGERY for crying out loud, why cant I have a housework robot? You'd think that'd be simple!