Jury deliberations are set to begin in the first case to go to trial of at least 26 lawsuits against Intuitive Surgical Inc. (ISRG) alleging injuries tied to its da Vinci robotic system.
Kitsap County Superior Court Judge Jay Roof in Port Orchard, Washington, handed off the case to the 12-member jury yesterday after a five-week trial. Deliberations will start today.
Lawyers for the estate of Fred Taylor seek $8.45 million in damages based on claims that Intuitive is mostly to blame for his injuries stemming from a 2008 robot-assisted removal of his prostate gland. Taylor and his family allege he suffered because of Intuitive’s inadequate training that was streamlined and compromised by the company’s push to sell its robots.
A lawyer for the company, Allen Ruby, yesterday told the jury in closing arguments that Intuitive’s warnings went unheeded by Taylor’s urologist, Scott Bildsten, and that he is responsible for Taylor’s injuries.
Taylor experienced multiple medical complications following the surgery and died four years later.
