Patent ID: 7904206

Claim:
An apparatus for holding a medical device, comprising: an arm unit spatially movable for spatially moving the medical device; an operation unit configured to be manually gripped by an operator for moving the arm unit, mechanically connected to both the arm unit and the medical device such that movement of the operation unit by the operator produces movements of both the arm unit and the medical device, and equipped with a plurality of switches to be operated by a hand of the operator which hand grips the operation unit when the medical device requires to be moved spatially; a determination unit configured to determine whether or not there is provided a predetermined switch operated state where the plurality of switches are operated within a predetermined period of time starting from a time instant at which one of the plurality of switches is first operated; and a movement controller configured to prohibit the arm unit from moving spatially even when the operator manually operates the switches, unless the determination unit determines that the predetermined switch operated state has been provided; an informing device informing the operator of a state where the arm unit has been prohibited from being moved even if the plurality of switches were operated; and an informing controller controlling the informing device to inform the operator of the prohibited state in cases where the movement controller has prohibited the arm unit from being moved.