Forbes November 8, 2025
Your physician assures you that you should have robotic surgery. Less pain, less blood loss, and faster recovery. The decision seems like a no-brainer. But is your surgeon enthusiastic about the robot for the wrong reasons?
As way of background, robotic surgery does not involve a robot autonomously performing procedures. Instead, surgeons using robots still perform the procedures but, rather than move the instruments – the blades and cauterizing tools – by themselves, they operate controls that indirectly move the instruments, or they send commands to a computer to perform the maneuvers.
Robotic surgery is controversial. Its benefits are often small and only manifest for surgeons with extensive training and experience using the machinery.
So what explains your physician’s enthusiasm?...
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