Intuitive Surgical finally had a good day in the press and on the NASDAQ index as media announced the company?s victory in a Washington state court over allegations that it was negligent in its training of a doctor who performed a robot-assisted surgery on a patient who later died. Intuitive stock jumped as much as 5.5 percent after the close of trading on May 23, when the verdict was announced.
The suit, filed in Kitsap County, Washington, had sought $8.45 million in compensatory damages in connection to the death of Fred Taylor, who had his prostate gland removed with a da Vinci robot in 2008 and died four years later as a result of surgical complications. The plaintiffs alleged that the man’s urologist, Scott Bildsten, hadn’t been properly trained in performing prostate removals with the da Vinci machine when the complications occurred.
The September 2008 surgery was the first unassisted procedure performed by Bildsten using the da Vinci machine. The surgeon had performed 100 successful prostatectomies using traditional methods. After seven hours of difficulty, Bildsten and other doctors turned to traditional surgery and then emergency care to repair a rectal laceration.
Intuitive?s lawyer, Allen Ruby, told jurors that Taylor was morbidly obese, and that Bildsten ignored specific instructions that for his first several procedures with the da Vinci, he should choose simple cases and patients with a low body-mass index.
For Intuitive Surgical, the precedent set by this case could allay patient doubts about the technology imposing any unusual risks, and it may encourage some plaintiffs to settle their cases quickly. It is undeniable that the robot has successfully served 1.5 million patients around the world, but the range of remaining cases means that Intuitive Surgical has not seen its last day in court.
Richard Friedman, who represented the plaintiffs in the case, said there are ?thousands of good cases out there? against Intuitive, and that ?plaintiffs? lawyers are going to win some of those.?
Despite its legal woes, the company took the step just a few weeks ago to issue a precautionary medical notice about a potential defect in certain versions of a scissor instrument, after they received one complaint of injury from a set of scissors later found to have “microcracks” that could result in burns.
Many in the medical industry claim that such notices are fairly common, and Intuitive chose not to go so far as to recall the instrument. Instead, the company said a replacement would be available in two to four weeks.
Stay tuned for our interview with attorney C. Andrew Keisner as we further analyze the legal implications of this case and those pending.
