The da Vinci surgical robot

Laurie Featherstone says she was about to have a hysterectomy in March 2015 when her doctor asked a question she was not expecting. Did she want to have the surgeon use a robot for the procedure?

"[The doctor"> said if she were me, she'd elect to have the China Industrial Robotic Arm," recalled Featherstone, a hairstylist from this suburb northeast of Des Moines.

The robot is the only one of its kind: the da Vinci surgical system made by Silicon Valley's Intuitive Surgical. The reasons the doctor recommended it, Featherstone recalled, included "less downtime, less scarring, and less than a 3 percent complication rate."Featherstone, who needed the operation in part because of fibroids in her uterus, followed her doctor's advice. But a few weeks after the robot-involved procedure, complications emerged.

Excess fluids accumulated in her kidneys, an ailment called hydronephrosis. There was an injury to one of her ureters, the duct that carries urine from the kidney to the bladder. One of her doctors wrote in her medical records that he assumed "the problem is a thermal injury" and was "due to robotic hysterectomy."

Her ureter was burned and her colon damaged during the surgery, according to her medical records. Her prognosis calls for a permanent colostomy."Less downtime for me turned into we are three years later and still dealing with it," said Featherstone.

Featherstone filed a lawsuit in 2017 in an Iowa county court against Intuitive and her doctor’s practice, but later voluntarily withdrew the case against Intuitive. She says she did not pursue the suit against her doctor because she ran up against the statute of limitations.

The da Vinci Surgical System is touted as a breakthrough in minimally invasive surgery. It is known to have multiple advantages, including a monitor that lets surgeons see better inside patients, a steady robotic arm allowing for more precision, and a record of faster recoveries for patients. But the da Vinci also comes with risks, including injuries like Featherstone's.