louisianarecord.com on November 07, 2011 reported that Claiming a robotic surgical procedure failed during neck surgery, Jennifer Silvestrini filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against Intuitive Surgical Inc. and/or Intuitive Surgical Systems Inc. and University Healthcare Systems, d/b/a Tulane University Hospital and Clinic. The suit was filed on Sept. 26 in Orleans Parish Civil District Court and the defendants removed the case to New Orleans federal court on Oct. 28. Silvestrini was admitted to Tulane University Hospital and Clinic on Oct. 7, 2010 for robotic transaxillary total thyroidectomy to be performed by Dr. Emad Kandil. During the surgery, there was an "unexplained, malfunction/breakdown of the robotic device," that could not be fixed by the doctor or the staff, according to the complaint.

The original article can be found at louisianarecord.com.