Intuitive Surgical incidents
The Machine Record lists 4 verified incidents involving Intuitive Surgical robots and vehicles since 2009: 4 where a person was hurt, 1 of them fatal, 1 that reached a regulator, recall, fine, lawsuit or settlement. Counted on 2026-10-03; every case links to its sources.
- Cases
- 4
- Someone hurt
- 4
- Fatal
- 1
- Escalated
- 1
- Period
- 2009-01 to 2021-09
By year
- 2009████████████ 1
- 2010 0
- 2011 0
- 2012 0
- 2013████████████ 1
- 2014████████████ 1
- 2015 0
- 2016 0
- 2017 0
- 2018 0
- 2019 0
- 2020 0
- 2021████████████ 1
By outcome
- serious injury3
- fatality1
By type of event
- injury2
- lawsuit2
By kind of machine
- Surgical4
Counts measure what was reported in English and cleared verification, not how many events took place. Fleet sizes are not public, so none of this is a rate. Rules are on the methodology page; the numbers are CC BY 4.0, cite this page. CSV, JSON and an API are on the data page.
Cases
The 4 cases behind the number
Newest first. Each one links to its timeline and to the sources it rests on.
- 2021-09-01A da Vinci surgical robot allegedly burned and tore a patient's small intestine during colon cancer surgery in Florida in September 2021, leading to additional procedures and her death in February 2022, prompting a wrongful death lawsuit against Intuitive Surgical.Lawsuit
- 2014-03-25Shareholders filed a derivative lawsuit against Intuitive Surgical alleging the company underreported adverse events and concealed recalls related to its da Vinci surgical robot.Report
- 2013-06-14Lawsuits allege that microscopic cracks in the insulating covers of the da Vinci Surgical System's Monopolar Curved Scissors allowed electrical current to leak and burn patients during minimally invasive surgeries at hospitals across the United States.Report
- 2009-01-01Michelle Zarick alleged that inadequately insulated electrified scissors on the da Vinci robotic surgical system caused internal injuries during a 2009 hysterectomy, resulting in intestinal prolapse and emergency surgery requiring a hip-to-hip incision.Report
Questions
What people ask about these numbers
- How many incidents involving Intuitive Surgical robots and vehicles are on record?
- The Machine Record lists 4 verified incidents involving Intuitive Surgical robots and vehicles since 2009: 4 where a person was hurt, 1 of them fatal, 1 that reached a regulator, recall, fine, lawsuit or settlement. Counted on 2026-10-03; every case links to its sources.
- What counts as an incident here?
- A case enters the register only when two independent published sources or one regulator record (NHTSA, CPSC, OSHA, EU Safety Gate) describe the same event with a date and an outcome. Demonstrations that went wrong, recalls, investigations, injuries and deaths all count; marketing and speculation do not.
- Is this every incident that happened?
- No. It is every incident reported in English that cleared verification. Fleet sizes are not public, so none of these numbers is a rate, and a company with more cases is often a company with more vehicles on the road and more press coverage.
- Can I reuse these numbers?
- Yes. Case metadata is CC BY 4.0: cite The Machine Record with a link. CSV and JSON exports and an API are on the data page.
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