Ethics

As telesurgery is a relatively new technology, there are still many ethical issues surrounding it.

One of the major concerns is expense. Theoretically, telesurgery can be used to perform operations on patients in areas that have few specialists but, if it is used in poorer locations, it raises an important question: if the area cannot afford to hire these specialists fulltime, then how can they afford to pay for the equipment.  Since one of the major benefits behind telesurgery is for humanitarian purposes, it raises the question of who would pay for the equipment since in “developing countries with a weak health system, there will be few centers that will afford very expense equipments” (Grauer et. al, 2010, p. 458). For example, in the United States of America, costs are usually covered by “providers and/or grants, and only infrequently reimbursed by various government agencies” (p. 459); without more support, it will be harder to maintain and purchase the equipment required for telesurgery.

Another problem is that telesurgery risks “marginali[zing]” (p. 460) patients, reducing  them to ‘objects’; with less contact between the patient and surgeon, patient-doctor proximity is greatly reduced. Without this human contact, the doctor can easily view his or her patient as just another operation; there is little communication between the surgeon who controls the robot (not the on-site doctors) and the patient.

As well, there is the issue regarding cultural customs; what may be acceptable in one country may be offensive in another.  For example, due to religious issues a male gynecologist may not treat a woman in Islamic regions but, since technically the surgeon is operating through a robot, would it still be considered sacrilegious? 

If telesurgery is to be used, surgeons must consider how they may best care for their patients while maintaining a patient-doctor relationship. But before telesurgery can even be considered, financing for it would have to be delegated so that even poorer regions may still have access to surgeons and telesurgery.