http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/ Engadget Comments for Four-armed surgical robot joins Edmonton hospital staff http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/
Now no one will support me in building my underground bunker for the impending robot invasion.

Thanks for ruining my day, Engadget. Maybe Gizmodo has a different take on this story.

]]>Aug 5th 2007 4:12AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/Aug 5th 2007 8:33AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/Aug 5th 2007 5:08AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/
why would they want to pay when it free in canada?]]>Aug 5th 2007 5:21AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/
Don't turn this into an idiotic Nationalized Healthcare debate.

With lots of love,
Josh]]>Aug 5th 2007 1:36PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/reference - the mention that Canada has been "notably" slow to adopt the latest and greatest, presumably due to the socialized nature of our health care system. While this may or may not be true in general, I'm not sure it's relevant to this particular story, as Alberta is rolling in oil revenue, and has been for some time.
There is no shortage of cash in the provincial coffers. The Canadian medical system is, however, quite cautious when it comes to adopting new tools - Health Canada in particular tends to watch new drugs introduced into the States for a couple of years before approving them, cost aside.]]>Aug 5th 2007 7:04PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/
Whoever suggested that the Canadian drug market is more controlled than the US is full of it, however. A lot of questionable drug purchases in the US are imported from Canada, because of relatively lax standards. If Canada is sluggish to adopt new drugs, I think the blame can be placed on bureaucracy before any intentional wait-and-watch.]]>Aug 6th 2007 5:46AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/
No disrespect, but how about checking rather than speculating? Canada has the same if not stricter level of drug quality controls as the US. In repeated surveys, the quality of Canadian drugs (which are made mostly by Canadian branches of US drug companies anyway) are comparable to US drugs.

Here's one example:
http://www.theannals.com/cgi/content/abstract/41/7/1111
and
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/iyh-vsv/med/internet_e.html

The problem isn't Canadian-made drugs - it's sites set up by people who are buying drugs from outside of Canada and then drop selling them through a Canadian remailer - which is illegal. For what it's worth, you can find these within the US as well.

It also has to be noted that Health Canada has typically put far stricter rules on drug claims than the US, obligating a higher level of proof of efficacy and safety. They're even implementing these rules on natural remedies and homeopathic 'drugs' (much to the chagrin of the practitioners of these systems).

As for the Canadian beurocracy slowing down purchases, again, check the facts. The Canadian and American healthcare systems operate in different ways. The Canadian one is less inclined to use expensive, gimmicky solutions until it's shown that there's a clear benefit to using it. MRIs for example, while very effective in some kinds of diagnostics - tend to be overused in the US to diagnose conditions that are easily diagnosed using simpler and less expensive methods. As a result, the Canadian system has fewer of them per capita, but they tend to be more efficiently used.

Conversely, there are some treatments that have been proven in other countries and have been adopted quickly in Canada while they are still not available in the US. The Canadian systems is more conservative in general about new technology and techniques. Newer isn't always better. Cooler isn't always better.

The fact remains, Canadians live longer and by any reasonable measure of quality of health, have better health longer in their lives over a much larger proportion of the population than the American system, as flashy and gimmicky as it is, provides Americans.]]>Aug 6th 2007 1:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/Aug 5th 2007 6:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/Aug 5th 2007 7:27AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/]]>Aug 5th 2007 8:33AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/ 2. A machine or device that operates automatically or by remote control.
3. A person who works mechanically without original thought, especially one who responds automatically to the commands of others.

]]>Aug 5th 2007 9:39AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/Aug 5th 2007 10:14AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/Aug 5th 2007 11:32AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/Aug 5th 2007 12:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/Aug 5th 2007 2:06PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/Aug 5th 2007 11:24PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/Aug 5th 2007 3:43PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/Aug 6th 2007 12:32AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/Aug 6th 2007 5:49AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/05/four-armed-surgical-robot-joins-edmonton-hospital-staff/Aug 6th 2007 1:22PM