A Case Study of Failures -- Types of Computer-Related Hospital Injuries
- Direct -- A defective software program causes a radiology machine to malfunction, burning a paitent
- Indirect -- A bug causes a cardiology machine to produce inaccurate information. The physician relies upon the machine as being correct, and administers the wrong treatment.
- Negliegence -- Software functions normally, but a technician uses the machine improperly, administers the wrong treatment, or misinterprets results.
- No-fault -- Software functions properly and medical personnel act appropriately. However, injury occurs because of imperfections of the test or the test is not designed to find the patient's specific abnormality.
One of the most serious computer-related injury cases involved the Therac-25 machine, designed for use in radiation therapy. Several patients were injured or killed after the machines malfunctioned and administered a high dose of radiation.
For Further Knowledge...
- For an interpretation on the liability aspects of the above four cases, click here.
- The issue of life-dependent technology reliability is further discussed in a paper by Ricky Butler. Click here.
- For a Stanford Medical School report on human error in medicine as related to computer systems, click here.
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