age 59
gleason 3+3
T1c

I have 2nd opinion consult at Moffitt Cancer Center end this
month.  Still thinking daVinci and looking for a doc with
experience. My urologist's partner does it but had a patient
die by accidental cut of blood vessel so I have lost confidence.
He was using daVinci

Here is the story:

TAMPA -- Questions surrounding the death of teacher Al Greenway during kidney
removal surgery last month will not go unanswered, a lawyer said Monday.

Steve Yerrid, retained by the Greenway family, said it was time the family was
allowed to know why the surgery went wrong.

"We are not willing to settle for less than the whole truth," Yerrid said at a
news conference at his Tampa office.

A popular Plant High biology teacher, Greenway, 53, died Oct. 13 at St.
Joseph's Hospital, two days after a surgeon used the robotic da Vinci Surgical
System to remove a cancerous kidney. During the surgery, two blood vessels,
including the aorta, were severed. The problem wasn't noticed for about 90
minutes.

Hospital officials announced the cause of Greenway's death at a news
conference last week. The next day, lawyer Joseph Diaco confirmed that his
client, urologist Tod J. Fusia, had performed the surgery and that Fusia
wanted to convey his sympathies to the family.

Greenway's family, who was at Monday's news conference but did not comment,
has not filed a lawsuit. Yerrid said the case was not about money, although he
did not rule out filing a suit.

Yerrid did not want to talk about specifics of the surgery and the aftermath.
He said the case went beyond medical malpractice and raised a number of
questions about when the family was told about what went wrong, and exactly
what they were told about the surgery.

As family members of patients, "we expect to know the truth and know the truth
when it occurs," he said.

Yerrid added that the surgeon originally scheduled to perform the surgery the
day before was not on Greenway's insurance program. The next day, the
Greenways were "directed" toward Fusia, Yerrid said.

"This says something about a system in which families are forced away from
their doctors of choice," he said.

Robot systems allow a surgeon to enter a patient's abdomen through several
small incisions, not one large opening. A long tube with a miniature video
camera at the tip is inserted into one of the incisions to allow the surgeon
to look around.

With the help of long tubes, the surgeon slides rods into the incisions that
have scalpels, scissors or other surgical tools at the end. The surgeon then
uses handles to manipulate the tools to perform the operation.

An evaluation of the robot that helped assist with Greenway's kidney removal
determined that it operated properly. Yerrid said he would be looking into the
protocols and training needed for using new technologies in the operating
room.

A spokeswoman for Intuitive Surgical Inc., which makes the robot, said last
week that the robot did not make the cut that led to Greenway's death. The
surgeon had moved to the patient and was using nonrobotic surgical techniques
when the vessels were cut, she said.

Yerrid said the family thought Fusia, who had used the robot about 10 times in
kidney removal procedures, had more experience with the surgery. They were
surprised he is still allowed to perform surgeries at the hospital while a
state investigation is ongoing, Yerrid said.

"We will be looking at everything that went on," Yerrid said.
............................................

       Posted on Sun, Dec. 21, 2003            
Jury finds Tampa surgeon negligent
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

TAMPA - A doctor named in a lawsuit over a deadly surgery involving a robotic
arm has been found guilty of negligence in a lawsuit stemming from another,
unrelated death.

Dr. Tod Fusia, a urologist who works at St. Joseph's Hospital, was on trial in
a case involving the death of patient Terry Tapp, said Peter Brudny, an
attorney for Tapp's family.

On Friday, the jury awarded $765,000 to Tapp's wife and daughter.

"I feel like justice has been very satisfied," said Shirley Tapp, Terry Tapp's
widow.

Terry Tapp was operated on twice by Fusia, according to Brudny. In the first
procedure to remove a kidney stone, Tapp's urinary tract was perforated and
allowed urine to leak into the man's abdomen. Three weeks after a second
surgery was performed, Tapp died when a blood clot entered his lung, Brudny
said.

"The jury found that (Fusia) was dishonest in what he told his patient,"
Brudny said.

Fusia's attorney, Joseph Diaco, did not return a telephone message left
Saturday at his office seeking comment.

Fusia was named, but not sued, in a separate lawsuit filed earlier this month
alleging he was not adequately trained to perform surgery using a robotic
device. In that case, Al Greenway died Oct. 13, 2002, after kidney surgery.

Greenway's widow is suing St. Joseph's Hospital, saying it is at fault for her
husband's death.

Brenda Greenway says hospital administrators allowed Fusia and another doctor,
both inexperienced with the $1 million robot, to perform her husband's
surgery, which was to remove a cancerous kidney.

Attorney Steven Yerrid, who represents Brenda Greenway, said the doctors were
not sued after their conduct had been "addressed."

According to Florida Department of Health records, Fusia and the other surgeon
paid $1 million in September to settle a claim for an unspecified incident
that occurred Oct. 11, 2002, the day of Greenway's surgery.
................................

During Greenway's surgery, Dr. Tod Fusia sat at a console about 10 feet from
the operating table using sophisticated control sticks to manipulate the da
Vinci Surgical Systems robot, a machine with three arms that look like they
belong to a six-foot-tall insect.

Robots including the da Vinci are considered a major surgical breakthrough
over traditional methods as they can perform very fine movements in tight
spaces without damaging surrounding tissue as much.

The lawsuit alleges that Fusia's experience with the device was limited to a
pig, a cadaver, three kidney removals and a complicated prostate surgery that
left a man incontinent.
......................................

A postoperative X-ray revealed that an absorbent pad had been left inside
Greenway's body that forced the surgeons to reopen the site to retrieve it,
according to the lawsuit. A needle was also missing and never accounted for,
the suit stated.

After the surgery, Greenway began showing signs of distress, according to the
suit. A nurse tried to find a surgeon to assist in his treatment, but her
requests went unfulfilled for more than two hours, the suit stated.

Mrs. Greenway's wife was informed that one of her husband's blood vessels was
"nicked," but that he was "fine," according to the lawsuit. She was not told
of the severity of the injuries, even as blood seeped from her husband's nose,
ears and mouth, the suit stated.

Greenway died the next day.

The lawsuit contends that Fusia and the assistant surgeon were ill-trained in
the use of the robot.

Fusia had attended a three-day certification course during which he did not
perform a robotic organ removal, the lawsuit stated. After he gained
certification, Fusia had performed only three robotic organ removals,
according to the lawsuit.

And during a surgery performed about a week before Greenway's, problems arose
that forced Fusia and the other surgeon to abandon the robot for more
traditional methods.
........................

ly

Apparently the prostate needs testosterone to grow.
If the prostate is "gone" then there is nothing to grow.
Thats the way I see it now anyway.  I will ask the Center
on Feb 23........ly