Several Maine hospitals have embraced robots for a variety of surgeries, the Lewiston (Maine) Sun Journal reported Aug. 22.
The hospitals using robotics-assisted technology include St. Mary's Regional Medical Center and Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston and Maine Medical Center in Portland. The devices include the Cori robot for knee replacement surgery and the Da Vinci surgical robot.
"The biggest thing about robotics to me, when you apply it to really any field of surgery, is the level of precision that you can dissect with," Blair Baldwin, DO, a bariatric surgeon at Central Maine Medical Center, told the newspaper.
Dr. Baldwin said he is concerned that the overreliance on new technology could deteriorate the patient-physician relationship, which is critical during the recovery period.