The surgical zeitgeist

Robotic surgery may be the latest obsession in medical circles, but it can never replace the intuition and empathy — or sense of humour — of a human surgeon

Every few years, surgery gets a new obsession. A decade ago, it was keyholes. Then came lasers. Now, the flavour of the month or perhaps of the decade is robotics and AI. Everyone’s either getting robotic surgery , selling robotic surgery, or secretly Googling whether a robot will replace them.

Patients have begun to talk like tech critics. “Doctor, do you use the robot?” they ask, the way people ask if you’ve upgraded your phone. If I say no, they look mildly betrayed, as if I’ve confessed to using dial-up internet. If I say yes, they beam as if my robot and I cohabit. Read More

Last week, a gentleman with a slipped disc told me