Therac-25

It's worth noting that we don't know for sure how many people this killed, we only have a lower bound.

The Causality episode on this is really good: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;engineered.network&#x2F;causality&#x2F;episode-39-therac-25&#x2F;" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;engineered.network&#x2F;causality&#x2F;episode-39-therac-25&#x2F;</a>

&gt; 1986, the programmer left AECL. In a lawsuit, lawyers could not identify the programmer or learn about his qualification and experience.<p>I find this hard to believe: how? Are there no records?<p>Edit: apparently the identity is known, but the lawsuit was settled before a deposition was required. Also:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.reddit.com&#x2F;r&#x2F;programming&#x2F;comments&#x2F;mzht1&#x2F;comment&#x2F;c35aobl&#x2F;" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.reddit.com&#x2F;r&#x2F;programming&#x2F;comments&#x2F;mzht1&#x2F;comment&#x2F;...</a>

So they took components from a previous system, didn&#x27;t test properly on the new system and today we inherit a whole lot of regulation for medical equipment because of this. Not that it&#x27;s a bad thing that we ensure proper testing has occurred but there are so many cases where legally this applies even if it&#x27;s very peripheral (like say a UI change in a menu item of something not related to medical equipment but is never the less under compliance)

Perhaps one of the best case studies in software ethics