(Image source from: New York Times Post)

A California man, who is in his 70’s, learned of his impending death through a video link, triggering outrage in his family, which protested the dehumanized and robotic way in which the news was delivered.

Ernest Quintana last Monday received the news while in a hospital in Fremont when a doctor appeared on-screen and told him that he passed away the next day.

"That Robot Dr. May be ok for some situations but not to tell a Man he is going to Die," a family friend wrote in a Facebook post that included a screenshot of a video taken by the patient's granddaughter, Annalisia Wilharm.

Wilharm was all alone with her grandfather when the doctor remotely told Quintana that his respiratory organs were deteriorating and he would not be going home.

"We knew that it was coming and that he was very sick, but I don't think somebody should get that news delivered that way. It should've been a human being come in," Wilharm told local TV station KTVU.

As her grandfather had a hearing difficulty, she had to relay the news, KTVU reported.

The Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, where Quintana was being treated, responded in a statement carried by the United States media in which it offered condolences to the family but disputed the characterization that the news was carried through by "robot."

"The use of the term 'robot' is inaccurate and inappropriate. This secure video technology is a live conversation with a physician using tele-video technology, and always with a nurse or other physician in the room," Kaiser Permanente said.

"It does not, and did not, replace ongoing in-person evaluations and conversations with a patient and family members," the center said.

"We regret falling short in meeting the patient's and family's expectations in this situation and we will use this as an opportunity to review how to improve patient experience with tele-video capabilities."

By Sowmya Sangam