Several hospitals have filed a collective antitrust lawsuit against Intuitive Surgical, one of the largest surgical robot manufacturers, accusing the company of using its market power to force them to sign restrictive maintenance contracts and purchase replacement parts at high prices.
Although there is limited evidence that they are better than other minimally invasive procedures, More and more hospitals are buying surgical robotsAccording to a report, as of last year, Intuitive has installed 3,720 Da Vinci surgical robots in the United States. File with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These devices are expensive, with each device costing up to 2.5 million U.S. dollars, and usually incur thousands of dollars in additional costs each year.
in a The complaint filed earlier this month, The 13 hospital system Franciscan Health stated that it must sign a five-year service contract, which may become invalid if it seeks third-party repair services for its Da Vinci surgical robot. These services cost between US$80,000 and US$190,000 per year.
According to the lawsuit, a customer trying to use a third-party robotic repair service found that his equipment stopped working during the operation, forcing the surgeon to complete the operation manually.
Franciscan Health claimed that some hospitals that tried to use third-party services received Intuitive’s cessation and termination letters, threatening to refuse future maintenance, and in some cases even threatening to disable robots.
In another lawsuit filed this month, Kaleida Health, headquartered in New York, said that independent robot repair companies have also received suspension and termination letters, asking them not to contact customers to provide repair services.
Both lawsuits focused on the maintenance and reuse of restrictions on the EndoWrist surgical instruments that came with the robot. Each comes with a series of accessories similar to traditional laparoscopic surgical tools, such as scalpels and scissors, but they also have an embedded chip to track the number of times the device is used. Both lawsuits allege that, in some cases, the equipment can only be used 10 times before the hospital has to buy more equipment.
Intuitive Surgical stated in an email statement that it cannot shut down the surgical system during an ongoing operation, but in some cases, the device may shut down if it is operated in an unsafe manner.
As for restrictions on third-party repairs, the company cited the risks of deviating from the process approved by the regulator.
“Continuing to use the instrument beyond the determined service life may reduce safety, accuracy, and dexterity. In addition, third parties may use incompatible or unverified parts or processes when servicing or repairing the system, which may cause damage And put patient safety at risk,” a company spokesperson wrote in an email.
Nevertheless, these service contracts and accessories are still a major source of income for Intuitive Surgical. Last year alone, it generated $2.46 billion in revenue for musical instruments and accessories, and another $724 million in service revenue. It accounts for more than half of its total income.
Both class actions are seeking to determine that Intuitive Surgical violated antitrust laws and demanded three times the compensation.
The two cases are Kaleida Health v Intuitive Surgical Inc. and Franciscan Alliance Inc. v Intuitive Surgical Inc. Both have filed suits in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
Image courtesy of flickr user Roswell Park
