Katie Yarborough Code Of Ethics
Parbhoo, R, 201202262
Introduction:
As an IT professional it is part of our job to ensure the wellbeing of others through what is created, as well as abiding by the law simultaneously. Several ideas need to be considered when acting morally and ethically, such as following a certain standard (Code of ethics), and morality, based on some sort of ideology of personal beliefs. A case study will be examined to compare what is morally and ethically correct, as opposed to what really happens in the real world because of uncontrolled variables like resources, power, and knowledge. All of which can either cause harm, or good, based on the intentions of the professional.
The scenario:
Therac – 25, a radiation therapy machine made by the Atomic Energy …show more content…
Katie received between 15,000 and 20,000 on her first treatment. The treatment left her with a large warm red circle on her chest, which she described the pain as “It burnt me”. Katie informed the technician of the pain. He then informed the manufacturers, and got word that the machine could never project an electron beam without spreading it evenly. The following night the technician worked on the machine testing it for bugs, and concluded that it worked fine.
Over the coming weeks the red circle from the first treatment was now a hole. Within a couple months she required 2 surgeries, but were futile because the skin transplants kept rotting. That soon led to her death.
6 months after Katie’s death, the manufacturers urged all of the technicians at the hospitals to makes sure that machine was calibrated properly, and to examine each treatment. As of today the machines are still being used around the world, with claims that “they are absolutely safe” (Fatal Dose, …show more content…
Therac - 25 had 10100 lines, which equates to approximately 20 errors (Fatal Dose, nd). Even with those errors, the machine ran and treated 20,000 patients successfully. The manufacturers simply based on this statistic took the Utilitarian approach to this. 6 deaths versus the 20,000 saved, and let the machines operate. The manufacturers were complying with the law, but were not ethical.
The technician knew that the estimated dosage received Katie was substantial and lethal. He also deemed the machine fit for use after one night’s analysis. Which is morally inhumane, since Katie had already started to die from that initial dose. All this resulted from shortcuts in code to avoid factors like: being over budget and over time.
The professionals writing the software were not being ethical by using the same model for the next generation machines, but they were following legal practices, because after Katie’s death they did make substantial changes to the software and hardware of the model. However these changes only came through 6 months later, which was again unethical. During the time another person could have been killed. They were acting legally, but more could have been done. Such as putting the machines on hold until a stable solution had come
Introduction:
As an IT professional it is part of our job to ensure the wellbeing of others through what is created, as well as abiding by the law simultaneously. Several ideas need to be considered when acting morally and ethically, such as following a certain standard (Code of ethics), and morality, based on some sort of ideology of personal beliefs. A case study will be examined to compare what is morally and ethically correct, as opposed to what really happens in the real world because of uncontrolled variables like resources, power, and knowledge. All of which can either cause harm, or good, based on the intentions of the professional.
The scenario:
Therac – 25, a radiation therapy machine made by the Atomic Energy …show more content…
Katie received between 15,000 and 20,000 on her first treatment. The treatment left her with a large warm red circle on her chest, which she described the pain as “It burnt me”. Katie informed the technician of the pain. He then informed the manufacturers, and got word that the machine could never project an electron beam without spreading it evenly. The following night the technician worked on the machine testing it for bugs, and concluded that it worked fine.
Over the coming weeks the red circle from the first treatment was now a hole. Within a couple months she required 2 surgeries, but were futile because the skin transplants kept rotting. That soon led to her death.
6 months after Katie’s death, the manufacturers urged all of the technicians at the hospitals to makes sure that machine was calibrated properly, and to examine each treatment. As of today the machines are still being used around the world, with claims that “they are absolutely safe” (Fatal Dose, …show more content…
Therac - 25 had 10100 lines, which equates to approximately 20 errors (Fatal Dose, nd). Even with those errors, the machine ran and treated 20,000 patients successfully. The manufacturers simply based on this statistic took the Utilitarian approach to this. 6 deaths versus the 20,000 saved, and let the machines operate. The manufacturers were complying with the law, but were not ethical.
The technician knew that the estimated dosage received Katie was substantial and lethal. He also deemed the machine fit for use after one night’s analysis. Which is morally inhumane, since Katie had already started to die from that initial dose. All this resulted from shortcuts in code to avoid factors like: being over budget and over time.
The professionals writing the software were not being ethical by using the same model for the next generation machines, but they were following legal practices, because after Katie’s death they did make substantial changes to the software and hardware of the model. However these changes only came through 6 months later, which was again unethical. During the time another person could have been killed. They were acting legally, but more could have been done. Such as putting the machines on hold until a stable solution had come