Alarm Buttons Fail Because of Software Upset by New Year // 19-01-04
According to a report in the Swiss Radio today, several hospitals in
Switzerland suffered a failure of the alarm buttons used by patients to
call for help, after midnight of Dec.31/Jan.1. The cantonal hospitals
of Aarau and Lucerne were mentioned in the report, but several (or
dozens?) of other hospitals seem to have been affected.
Apparently, the reason was the computer system controlling the displays
in the nurse's offices were not programmed correctly and drew
overcurrent, when the year changed, breaking the power supplies.
First, _WTF?_ People could not foresee the fact the year changes?
Second, **WTF??** Why is there a computer system controlling these
buttons? Oh, of course I know the answers.
First, it was a simple bug, no worries! Except that it needed
reprogramming, and the producer of the system did not have enough
resources, therefore this required programming tools being passed from
one hospital to the next, during several days.
And second, I assume the buttons are actually small transmitters
connected to a bus, sending their address when pressed, so that one
cable is sufficient for all buttons (not one for each). And I guess the
displays also show the time, not just numbers or addresses of active
buttons.
Anyway, I always feel bad when safety-related stuff is computerized,
mainly for convenience or to save money (or copper, in this case).
