Intuitive Resembled a Car Dealership, Lawyer Tells Jury
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Intuitive Surgical Inc. acted like a “car dealership” in training doctors to use its robotic surgery system and should pay more than $8 million in damages to the estate of a man who lost his life because of the company’s practices, a lawyer for the estate said.
The attorney, Richard Friedman, in closing arguments yesterday in state court in Port Orchard, Washington, said Intuitive wanted to retain hospitals as customers and increase the number of robotic surgeries using its da Vinci system. It’s the first case to go to trial of at least 26 lawsuits against Intuitive alleging injuries tied to the system. The robots were used in more than 300,000 U.S. operations last year.