A surgical robot burned a hole in a Florida woman’s small intestine during surgery, injuring and eventually killing her, according to a new lawsuit filed by her husband.
According to the legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Boca Raton native Sandra Sultzer passed away at the age of 78 in 2022 following a procedure to treat her colon cancer … which was performed using a ‘da Vinci’ robot — a 4-armed machine activated by a doctor operating a camera and a surgeon steering the robot’s arms using a joystick and foot pedals.
Sultzer’s spouse claims the robot is designed to create incisions as small as the size of a coin … and the precise movements are supposed to decrease blood loss and stress to the body from larger cuts produced during traditional surgical procedures.
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The claim alleges some of the rubber sleeves around the arms had flaws which enabled electrical currents to escape … and the stray energy practically burned Sandra’s body tissues during her September 2021 surgery.
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Her husband claims that the burning of her internal organs occurred without the surgical team’s full knowledge at the time.
The lawsuit says that Intuitive Surgical Inc. — the firm that develops the da Vinci robot — failed to appropriately warn of these hazards … alleging it should have known of the risks from “thousands of injury and defect reports” regarding the technology.
He also alleges the product was not created in a safe way or tested enough to avoid the burn hazards.
Sultzer’s spouse is seeking unspecified damages, including punitives.
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