Monday, October 12, 2009
Radiation Overdoses
One of the first cases we discussed in class was the Therac-25 system which, after experiencing software malfunctions, administered lethal and near-lethal doses of radiation to cancer patients. A similar incident occurred recently at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. There is a story with the details in today's New York Times.
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This article demonstrates that people's understanding of technology and ability to interact with it is just as important as technological advances themselves. I think that as technology gets more advanced, the divide between computer experts and the general public becomes wider and wider simply because people think that technology is so advanced that it can take care of itself or they think that understanding technology is too far out of reach. It is so important that that gap of knowledge is bridged because as we have said in class, IT is not a separate sphere anymore - it is interwoven into almost every industry.
ReplyDeleteI think that what bothers me in this case is that the problem went undetected for so long (18 months seems like a long time), and because of it, a good number of patients were affected. As Luther said, people cannot forget that technology still needs to be monitored by people, even if it is a smart technology. It is a little disillusioning to think that a hospital wouldn't have regular updates and checkups on its equipment and procedures, to see if they are working properly. I frankly wouldn't be surprised if the hospital faced some legal repercussions and lawsuits -- eight times the regular dose of radiation is pretty significant.
ReplyDeleteThis is kind of disturbing to me that someone was able to be given a scan that was unsafe because the technology was not right. I agree with the above posts that even with smart technology humans need to be the final check. I would think that in a hospital anytime someone is taking a test of this magnitude the doctors or nurses administering the scan would have to check the settings to make sure that everything is correct and not going to burn someones hair off. That is my opinion on the topic and humans need to be the final check and systems needs to be checked to make sure they do not provide wrong treatment in this case.
ReplyDeleteThis article is very disturbing to me because I recently had a CT scan done. Before getting it done they assured my safety and I had to sign a form in order for them to administer it. By signing the form, I placed my well being in the hands of another individual. At the time, I did not think much of the possible complications; however, this story has caused me to reflect on my experience. Had I been exposed to over 8 times the normal amount of radiation like these individuals, I would be looking into filing a law suit; however, I wonder if forms, like the one I signed, cover a mistake such as this one?
ReplyDeleteI think the problem with these medical machines and other devices that are used to help the health of people is that it is really impossible to prevent all of the possible problems without actually using it on humans. Malfunctions and problems can occur simply due to a malfunction in the electronic equipment, which anyone with a personal computer can relate to. How many times do people have problems with their computers and need to get them fixed? It seems to me that this will constantly be an issue as long as some type of electronic or computer based equipment is used. There is no way to predict malfunctions, and let's face it there will always be problems that develop as the software gets older
ReplyDeleteThough technology has made serious advancements, especially in areas of medicine, I think human reliance on such technologies has hindered professionals in many ways. If I had a guess, I would say most nurses or technicians running machines such as this one really only know which buttons to press and would have no idea how to handle a malfunction such as this. As Llontop mentioned, it seems crazy that a huge problem such as this could go undetected for 18 months. This is probably because technicians in the hospital just assume that everything is running correctly and have no idea how to even detect a problem, let alone fix it. I think there definitely needs to be more regular checks on the equipment and more advanced training for any individual operating the equipment. But like Will said, no matter what, technology can fail without any human error, and unfortunately the consequences can be extreme.
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