In November of the year 2000, a software malfunction led to the death of 8 patients of a cancer clinic in Panama City, while at least 20 Other patients developed symptoms related to overexposure to radiation. The software malfunction led to these patients being overexposed to gamma radiation as part of their radiotherapy while being treated for cancer. The software was supposed to allow doctors to calculate the appropriate radiation dose for the patient for a given therapy session. To do this, the doctor draws on the computer screen the locations of metal shields (called blocks), which are used to protect healthy tissue from harmful radiation. The software would then calculate the appropriate dose of radiation. The problem was that the doctors wanted to place five separate blocks when the software only allowed the placement of four individual blocks. Doctors found they could get around this restriction by drawing a single large block with a hole in the middle instead of five individual blocks. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get an original essay What doctors didn't realize at the time was that depending on how they drew the hole in the middle of the big block, the software calculates the correct dosage, otherwise it would get a dosage twice as high as necessary. Doctors were legally required to manually check the dosage, but they did not do so and simply used the dosages calculated by the software. There were several different errors that led to several patients dying and many more patients developing serious complications. In my opinion, the most obvious mistake was not following the procedure and not checking the dosages prescribed by the software. If doctors had just taken the time to check the dosages, it could have saved the lives of several people and the system could have had this bug fixed by its developers. The next problem appears to be that the software did not meet the required technical requirements. sought after by technicians. This could be due to a multitude of reasons, such as technological restriction since this incident occurred in 2000 and computer processors may not have been powerful enough to accommodate the features doctors wanted. Another possibility is that there was a lack of communication between the software developers and the doctors. This would explain why the software only allowed a maximum of four blocks to be placed when the doctors who were the intended end users wanted more functionality. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized document now from our expert writers. Get a Custom TrialFinally, the company that developed the software could have spent more time testing the software to ensure that the holes made in the blocks would not cause significant changes in the dosages calculated based on how the hole has been drawn. In conclusion, this incident was caused by the doctor's negligence of proper medical procedures and possible lack of testing during software development..