Charles Whitlow never thought much about robots.
In herpetic Whitlow, the virus has entered the finger.
Herpetic Whitlow: Sometimes, the herpes virus shows up on the fingers.
As it was presented to him,
robotic surgery sounded simple, Whitlow says.
On December 1, 2010, Whitlow's prostate removal began just like any other
at East Alabama Medical Center.
According to a lawsuit Whitlow filed, an arc of electricity leaped from da
Vinci's robot instrument and seared a hole through his rectum.
The virus can be caught on ordinary skin such as the
hand/fingers if broken skin allows entry(known as a Whitlow on the fingers).
But a growing number of practitioners- and patients like Whitlow- worry that the robot revolution came before the advantages were proven,
and that marketing, not medicine, has led the charge.