Surgeon raises concerns about robotic assistant's performance during procedures
In a recent case before the California Court of Appeal, a surgeon claimed that the hospitals employing him subjected him to unlawful retaliation after he made whistleblower complaints regarding patient safety concerns.
The plaintiff in the case of Bonni v. St. Joseph Health System was a surgeon focusing on obstetrics and gynecology who had staff privileges at Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center and at St. Joseph Hospital of Orange, an affiliated hospital.
He performed a surgery involving the use of a robotic assistant, which helped in supplying three-dimensional imaging and in cutting and cauterizing tissue. Due to a malfunction, the robot’s camera provided only two-dimensional imaging. The surgery led to patient complications.
Over the next few weeks, two more of the plaintiff’s surgeries also resulted in patient complications. He raised concerns about the robotic assistant’s performance during the surgeries. Later, St. Joseph advised him that it was summarily suspending his staff privileges to avoid “imminent danger” to its patients.
The plaintiff filed a lawsuit against both hospitals, other related entities, and eight individual physicians involved in the disciplinary process. He alleged that the defendants unlawfully retaliated against him by doing the following:
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