House Calls with Dr. Peter Gott: Are robots replacing doctors?
Q: I recently read an article in The New York Times where doctors are communicating with their patients long distance via robot machines. What has the medical industry come to? A: I, too, read the article and was aware of robotic medicine but still rather amused by the changes that have occurred since I became a physician. Robotic medicine is the wave of the future. When a robot is brought to a patient’s bedside, a physician can speak with him or her, observe movements and reactions, provide laboratory or X-ray test results, and prescribe – all from hundreds of miles away. The unit resembles a vacuum cleaner and comes with a top that looks like a television so the patient and physician can see and communicate with each other. These mobile units are available in hundreds of hospitals across the country, and they become the eyes and ears of the physician involved. Robots are not a new technology. Law-enforcement agencies and the military use robots to disarm bombs and carry out other dan
