CAJ - Average Joe and surgical robots in 2039

It is an early morning in the year 2039 and Mr. Doe casually enters the hospital. The hospital, which was once swamped with waiting patients, stressed nurses and busy looking doctors, seems almost empty. Most patients are either in preparation for their surgeries, in the recovery room or on their way home again. The number of nurses as well as doctors has been reduced to a minimum. The main work in this hospital is done by robots. They observe patients, prepare them for surgery and even perform them. Mr. Doe is one of the ten doctors still working in this hospital. Nowadays, their job is more focused on the robots than on the patients themselves. Under the experienced surgeons‘ watchful eyes, 50 robots perform 50 surgeries making waiting patients a phenomenon of the past. All Mr. Doe and his colleagues have to do is to keep an eye on five screens each to make sure every surgery goes according to plan. In the early days of surgical robots, surgeons still had to operate the machines themselves but gradually the robots evolved. Very soon, they were able to perform simple surgeries on their own and all the doctors had to do was to take over in case of emergencies or problems. However, the robots adapted quickly and could handle more complex surgeries and even complications, reducing the surgeons to the role of mere observers. Even though this lead to the near extinction of the medical professions, the advantages outweigh the downsides. Patients do not have to wait endlessly for a surgery anymore, risks during and after surgeries have been reduced, the recovery time is only a small fraction of the time it used to be after surgeries performed by human doctors.