Quote:
Originally Posted by candybar
If what you're doing can kill people, whether you're writing software or designing hardware, you'll be required to be extremely conservative and there will be lots of procedures around your work to ensure that you don't kill people.
More suzzer story time.
When I worked for Quest Diagnostics we created a PDF version of a lab report that could be viewed or downloaded from our app. The official lab reports are printed off from a big dot-matrix roll with the tearable side thingies - and mailed to doctors. For most of the life of the app - our web version was only viewed by people at drug companies to see how the study was coming along. IE - there was no chance a doctor would use the web/PDF version to make a diagnosis.
Right about when I was leaving they decided they wanted to open up the app to doctors. I had to raise a gigantic stink to point out the lab report hadn't been validated to that level. It's real damn easy on the web and PDF to cut off a digit in a column. So instead of
0.9 for Creatine or something, a doctor might just see
0. In theory, worst case scenario, someone could die from misdiagnosis.
I seemed to be the only one overly concerned about this. I finally convinced them we needed to do a hardcore validation against a bunch of printed lab reports. And what do you know - we found bugs.
You know how your last 2 weeks is usually total blow-off? I spent the last two weeks, and even the last weekend after I was supposed to quit, feverishly working on this validation. I didn't trust that it would get done if I left. No one else knew the PDF generator (XSL:FO) at all. I didn't want some dead person hanging over me.
Funny thing is when I interviewed at business.com, while this was going on, the interviewer asked me to name a time when I had to make an ethical decision. Well boom, of course this popped into my head. She seemed to really like the answer as it never occurred to her a computer programmer could be responsible for life or death. I saw her like 10 years later at a reunion and it was the first thing he brought up.
And of course now at my current job, and side job, I do **** all for months at a time and have gotten so damn lazy I may be ruined.