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American Morning

Robot Doctor

Aired December 25, 2003 - 09:36   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: It would be tough on a doctor on Christmas morning. What if that doctor were available from hundreds or even thousands of miles away from you? Dr. Sanjay Gupta available right here and now. Good morning.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill. It's not intended to replace doctors and nurses, I need to say that in the beginning, and it may not have the personality of Dr. Kildare or Marcus Welby (ph). And it weighs about 200 pounds. It's a robot, and it's becoming very popular in the hospitals.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA (voice-over): You wouldn't know it, but Dr. Louis Kavoussi is making rounds. With the help of a robot, he can talk, listen to, and even see his patients, without ever leaving his home.

DR. LOUIS KAVOUSSI, JOHNS HOPKINS HOSPITAL: The idea came up, could we have the doctors visit with the patients in a remote manner?

GUPTA: To many, he may look a bit like a vacuum cleaner with a computer screen for a face. But Dr. Roboto walks the halls with all the decorum of a doctor at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, doctor.

GUPTA: That's where he's being tried out.

KAVOUSSI: The advantage on the patient side is the patient has immediate access to the doctor. From a physician's standpoint, it saves time, because some problems can be dealt with just on a visual basis.

GUPTA: Two residents, doctors in training, escort the robot during rounds, telling Dr. Kavoussi the status of each patient, and showing them their charts, which he can photograph at home.

KAVOUSSI: Hey, Mr. Pepper (ph). Good morning. We're having a little visit with you this morning. How are you doing? I want to take a look at your tummy. That's good.

GUPTA: And the reaction from his patients...

KAVOUSSI: It can range from as a matter of fact to, oh, wow, gee whiz.

GUPTA: We asked them ourselves.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It would be something if I could have a female, though.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He had said that during the week there might be a robot to visit me. And I thought he was kidding me, but he was real.

GUPTA: But still, a robot can never give that same hands-on approach to medicine.

KAVOUSSI: In terms of visualization, you don't have three- dimensional vision. You have two-dimensional vision on a flat screen. You can't feel the patient. You can't use your hands to touch things.

GUPTA: Right now, the residents provide the hands, but in the future technology may provide another alternative.

KAVOUSSI: This company and others are working on an arm for the robot that actually has an ultra-sound probe, so you can actually put this on the patient and see what's going on inside the patient.

GUPTA: And, of course, there are still some technical glitches that will likely need to be worked out.

KAVOUSSI: Oh, it crashed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: It costs about $2,500 a month to rent. They're not cheap. Kids love it. Teenagers are fascinated by it. Adults not quite sure what to make of it. We're going to keep an eye on it.

HEMMER: Wow, technology says quite a bit. Thank you, Sanjay.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired December 25, 2003 - 09:36   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: It would be tough on a doctor on Christmas morning. What if that doctor were available from hundreds or even thousands of miles away from you? Dr. Sanjay Gupta available right here and now. Good morning.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill. It's not intended to replace doctors and nurses, I need to say that in the beginning, and it may not have the personality of Dr. Kildare or Marcus Welby (ph). And it weighs about 200 pounds. It's a robot, and it's becoming very popular in the hospitals.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA (voice-over): You wouldn't know it, but Dr. Louis Kavoussi is making rounds. With the help of a robot, he can talk, listen to, and even see his patients, without ever leaving his home.

DR. LOUIS KAVOUSSI, JOHNS HOPKINS HOSPITAL: The idea came up, could we have the doctors visit with the patients in a remote manner?

GUPTA: To many, he may look a bit like a vacuum cleaner with a computer screen for a face. But Dr. Roboto walks the halls with all the decorum of a doctor at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, doctor.

GUPTA: That's where he's being tried out.

KAVOUSSI: The advantage on the patient side is the patient has immediate access to the doctor. From a physician's standpoint, it saves time, because some problems can be dealt with just on a visual basis.

GUPTA: Two residents, doctors in training, escort the robot during rounds, telling Dr. Kavoussi the status of each patient, and showing them their charts, which he can photograph at home.

KAVOUSSI: Hey, Mr. Pepper (ph). Good morning. We're having a little visit with you this morning. How are you doing? I want to take a look at your tummy. That's good.

GUPTA: And the reaction from his patients...

KAVOUSSI: It can range from as a matter of fact to, oh, wow, gee whiz.

GUPTA: We asked them ourselves.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It would be something if I could have a female, though.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He had said that during the week there might be a robot to visit me. And I thought he was kidding me, but he was real.

GUPTA: But still, a robot can never give that same hands-on approach to medicine.

KAVOUSSI: In terms of visualization, you don't have three- dimensional vision. You have two-dimensional vision on a flat screen. You can't feel the patient. You can't use your hands to touch things.

GUPTA: Right now, the residents provide the hands, but in the future technology may provide another alternative.

KAVOUSSI: This company and others are working on an arm for the robot that actually has an ultra-sound probe, so you can actually put this on the patient and see what's going on inside the patient.

GUPTA: And, of course, there are still some technical glitches that will likely need to be worked out.

KAVOUSSI: Oh, it crashed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: It costs about $2,500 a month to rent. They're not cheap. Kids love it. Teenagers are fascinated by it. Adults not quite sure what to make of it. We're going to keep an eye on it.

HEMMER: Wow, technology says quite a bit. Thank you, Sanjay.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com