Concerning Orthopaedic Surgeons!!

Each year, a publication called Medscape creates a portrait of the medical profession.

It surveys thousands of doctors about their job satisfaction, salaries and the like and breaks down the results by specialty, allowing for comparisons between, say, dermatologists and oncologists.

As I read the most recent survey, I was struck by the answers from orthopedic surgeons.

They are the highest-paid doctors, with an average salary of $443,000 in 2015 — which, coincidentally, was almost the exact cutoff for the famed top 1 percent of the income distribution.

Yet many orthopedists are not happy with their pay.

Only 44 percent feel “fairly compensated,” a smaller share than in almost every other specialty.

A lot of orthopedists aren’t even happy being doctors.

Just 49 percent say they would go into medicine if they had to make the decision again, compared with 64 percent of all doctors.

I know that many orthopedists have a very different view: They take pride in helping patients and feel fortunate to enjoy comfortable lives.

But despite those doctors, it’s clear that orthopedics suffers from a professional culture that does not live up to medicine’s highest ideals.

Too many orthopedists are rich and think it’s an injustice that they’re not richer.

A New Robotic Surgery Company In The Making!!!!

J&J, Verily Life Sciences Create New Robotic Surgery Company

Johnson & Johnson and Verily Life Sciences LLC, formerly known as Google Life Sciences, have formed a new company to develop the next generation of robotic-assisted tools for surgeons.

The venture, which will be called Verb Surgical Inc., is the latest partnership between the California tech giant and the health-care industry, after earlier collaborations with Biogen Inc., Novartis AG and Sanofi.

“The team has already made meaningful progress on the robotics platform, which is being developed for application across a host of surgical specialties,” Gary Pruden, worldwide chairman of J&J’s medical devices group, said Thursday in a statement.

Robot-assisted surgeries have been growing in popularity, and Verb will compete against companies like Intuitive Surgical Inc., whose device is used for a range of procedures including colorectal surgery and hernia repair. Intuitive’s machine has a physician at the controls and takes advantage of the robot’s slender arms to make smaller incisions that help patients heal more quickly.

Robot System

Verb’s surgical platform will include robotic capabilities as well as medical device technology, developing the features in collaboration with surgeons and hospitals. When J&J and Verily first joined forces in March, they said they would be exploring ways to add advanced imaging and sensors to surgical tools to help doctors during operations. The partnership was designed to advance a prototype that J&J, the world’s largest maker of health-care products, developed as the core of a new robotic surgical system.

Yet such procedures aren’t without risks. A 2013 complaint by the Colorado Medical Board alleged that patients suffered injuries or complications from robotic surgeries, including punctured or torn arteries.

Scott Huennekens will be chief executive officer of Verb, which will be based in Mountain View, California. From April 2002 to February 2015 Huennekens was CEO of Volcano Corp., which specialized in intravascular imaging. Verb’s board will include members from Johnson & Johnson surgical devices unit Ethicon, Johnson & Johnson Innovation LLC, Verily and Google.

J&J and Verily didn’t release any financial terms for the new entity.

Source:     Robotic Surgery