The Surgeon Giving His Patients VR Instead of Sedatives
February 3rd, 2017Via: BBC:
The surgeon makes his first cut and blood spills down Ana’s leg. She’s surrounded by medical equipment – stools, trolleys, swabs, syringes – with super-bright surgical lamps suspended above the bed. Her vital signs are displayed on monitors just behind. But Ana is oblivious. She’s immersed in a three-dimensional re-creation of Machu Picchu. She begins her journey with a breathtaking aerial view of the ancient city clinging to the mountainside, before swooping down to explore the details of stepped terraces, moss-covered walls and tiny stone huts.
…
Engrossed in the virtual reality, she barely noticed the scalpel slicing her flesh. “I was transported,” she says. “Normally I’m very stressed, but now I feel so, so relaxed.”
