These issues will be considered more fully in the context of the development risks defence. As computer applications become more sophisticated, the risk analysis referred to above may become a matter of increasing complexity. It has been suggested that the technology is such that robot surgeons could perform operations to narrower tolerances than any human could attain. This is perceived as having particular advantages in surgery for the removal of brain tumours. By being able to cut more precisely, a robot could remove a greater proportion of the tumour thereby improving the patient's prognosis.
Any operation can go wrong.
In the event that a surgical procedure goes wrong, a patient seeking compensation has presently to establish negligence on the part of the surgeon. If the surgeon is a robot it may be that the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act will impose strict liability. The robot will thus be judged more harshly than the human. Other ethical and legal considerations aside, such a possibility may well deter hospital authorities from utilising the new technology. It may be that the law and lawyers are better equipped to assess the nebulous nature of human conduct than the statistical precision which characterises computer applications.