The surgeon makes the surgical diagnosis, WHAT KIND of treatment a patient needs, puts together the operative strategy, optimizes the patient's other variables and comorbidities prior to surgery, then manages the patient in the surgical ICU post op. After that, the surgeon sees the patient for however long is necessary in clinic for followup and serves as primary physician for patients that don't have one. They're definitely docs, but with a wider range of treatment modalities at their disposal.

This robot is a glorified scalpel. The surgeon sits at the console and guides the robotic arm, and there's no AI involved at all. Who would take responsibilty if the surgery went wrong and the robot was in control? Would you really want "error code 125: Grandma is dead", or would you want a human telling you what happened and apologizing?

The average neurosurgeon makes $400,000 and works 100hr weeks. Subtract the 300,000 for insurance and overhead for their clinic, divide by 5000 for 50wks worked/yr. = $20 an hour. This is after 4yrs college, 4yrs medschool, 7 years residency working 120hrs/wk (the duty hour limits are a lie. Residents still live at the hospital and go home to sleep for 4hrs, work ~27-28 days a month) and 2 year fellowship, emerging $200k in debt. Residents start at $30,000/yr.

The AMA is a regulatory body, and makes rules for what treatment is appropriate for docs to administer. Patients can go to whichever surgeon they please, and can haggle for their treatment if they are paying out of pocket or if their insurance is structured like that. Calling what surgeons have a monopoly is like saying that your local crackdealer has a monopoly. You can either pay exactly what the first one that you encounter asks for, you could walk another block and see what the next one offers you, or you could go smoke dope instead (ie try out chemo/radiation instead of getting definitive surgical treatment for your brain tumor). Or you could manage your high blood pressure and cholesterol to minimize health risk yourself, circumventing the need for a surgeon to come in and clip your aneurysm in the first place.

skippythatis

JohnnyZito

dbcooper.eu

Jeff-Minor

Perhaps these 'bots will knock them down from the ridiculous pinnacle they've put themselves atop, with the help of their disgusting AMA monopoly.

Nifty robot.
-Kle.

Klebert L. Hall

(Wait, why did I continue this conversation?)

92BuickLeSabre

thechansen

thechansen

pevans34

I want to use that the next time I need brain surgery.

ideaman2020

mgcramps

tetracycloide

First create the robots to help people with their jobs, then, when they least expect it, BAM! Introduce the robots that replace them.

Mio

Hiphopopotamus

(Did I say that outloud?)

92BuickLeSabre

thats just plain frickin' awesome. Canada should be proud.

toopersent