Khaleej Times

Man told he is going to die via a video-link

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san francisco — A septuagena­rian California­n learned of his impending death through a video link, outraging his family, which protested the dehumanise­d and robotic way in which the news was delivered.

Ernest Quintana received the news last Monday in a hospital in Fremont when a doctor appeared on-screen and told him. He passed away the following day.

“That Robot Dr. May be ok for some situations but not to tell a Man he is going to Die,” a family friend wrote in a Facebook post that included a screenshot of a video taken by the patient’s granddaugh­ter, Annalisia Wilharm.

Wilharm was alone with her grandfathe­r when the doctor remotely told Quintana that his lungs were failing and he would not be going home.

“We knew that it was coming and that he was very sick, but I don’t think somebody should get that news delivered that way. It should’ve been a human being come in,” Wilharm told local TV station KTVU.

As her grandfathe­r had a hearing problem, she had to relay the news, KTVU reported.

The Kaiser Permanente Medical Centre, where Quintana was being treated, responded in a statement carried by US media in which it offered condolence­s to the family but disputed the characteri­sation that the news was delivered by “robot.”

“The use of the term ‘robot’ is inaccurate and inappropri­ate. This secure video technology is a live conversati­on with a physician using tele-video technology, and always with a nurse or other physician in the room,” Kaiser Permanente said.

“It does not, and did not, replace ongoing in-person evaluation­s and conversati­ons with a patient and family members,” the centre said.—

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