Strict Liability vs. Negligence

Under a strict liability interpretation, a person who is harmed in some way by a software failure would have the right to obtain damages either from the manufacturer of the software or the institution operating the software when the error ocurred (eg: a patient suing a hospital because of an x-ray machine software malfunction). Under the negligence interpretation of liability, the victim would need to prove that the manufacturer of the software failed to develop and test its product well enough to the point where it was reasonably confident that the product was safe to operate, or that the operator of the software failed to use the software correctly or grossly failed to interpret the software's findings correctly.

Under current law, strict liability principles are not applicable to doctors and hospitals, although strict liability is being applied more frequently these days to manufacturers of medical software.

It is often difficult to prove negligence, as it can be very difficult to prove where in the chain of production the defect occurred. Potential sources of a defect include:


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