Medical News I Found Sharable

I witnessed a laproscopic gallbladder removal a while back at Evergreen Medical Center in Washington and was impressed by the surgeon's skills at basically operating via camera. A nurse held a camera in one incision, while the surgeon manipulated tools through several other incisions. All in all, no incision was bigger than a dime, and I am told, it is much cleaner and safer than open surgery. This article I've linked to describes a new technique which is taking the surgeon a step further away from direct manipulation. The surgeon operates the tools and conducts the surgery from a set of controls running a robot who is actually doing the cutting. Much of recovery pain, I was told during the surgery I saw at Evergreen, is due to what amounts to bumps and bruises from surgeon or nurse hands or utensils. The more a patient has to be manipulated, the longer or more painful a recovery they may have. Therefore, this new procedure method, using a robot, could cut down on a lot of that injury and make recovery quicker. However, here we are, automating, in a way, more and more of our world. Do we lose something when we cut out human contact in procedures? What do you think? Eventually, when they can program computers well enough, I'm sure the goal will be to have totally automated processes. I wonder what the costs/gains balance will be like over the years.