Patent ID: 8172838

Claim:
A surgical apparatus, comprising: an instrument that may be used for cutting and/or coagulating biological tissue, with an actuation unit disposed on a handle and a control unit providing at least three modes for controlling the instrument, these modes being selectable and/or executable using the actuation unit, wherein the actuation unit contains a switching rocker with an oblong operating element mounted in a guide device so as to be rotatable about a rocker axis that can be shifted perpendicular to the surface of the handle, so that starting from an initial position a first or second function position can be reached by forward or backward rotation about the rocker axis and a third function position can be reached by pressing the operating element inward, two sensors being disposed en next to the operating element, one on each of two opposite sides of the rocker axis, in such a way that the function position selected using the switching rocker can be detected by a control unit via the sensors, wherein a guide opening of the guide device is designed to receive a projection in the third function position, the projection being attached to the oblong operating element, and extending into the guide opening in the third function position to prevent a direct change between the function positions.