Should a computer programmer be held resposible?

Question

If a computer programmer writes a program that controls the IV's at a hospital, and the program messes up because some corrupted data or something was sent to the program should that programmer be held responsible for those deaths?

The programmer had all the proper exception handling, and data validation, but somehow the program was messed up.

Answer 1

I will tell you some scenario. In canada we have laws of intellectual property. The programmer should be accountable if his actions result in failure in the industry.

Say you are programming a IV at the hospital, and the program messes up because of a Divide By Zero Exception. There could be law suits running towards the author of that application. There could be 2 situations.
1- Your guilty
2- Your not guilty.

You are guilty if you knew that you didn't need to catch that exception. You just said to yourself while programming that it wont ever happen. That will be saying that you don't care.

Your not guilty if that bug was out of your league and you didn't know about that exception would be caused at that point.

It can be quite strange, which I know. But a programmer should be aware about the decisions he/she are making. If you bring a Civil Engineer to build a bridge, and he didn't feel like testing one node but he tested 99% of the other nodes. And that node failed after a year. He would be held accountable since that node killed many people from the actions he took.

That is in canada though. The reason we do that is simply because there are many people who know how to program, and as a software engineer you have the status of an Engineer. An Engineer in Canada means something big. When an employer hires you as an Engineer they know that you been taught many stuff. And you will know many areas.

Don't be afraid that if you make a mistake you will be accountable. It doens't happen that way. That exception is just an example which wont be sued for :) If something bigger happens then mayeb you will. Like building an airplain system and you intentionally didn't program the brakes :p

Anyways AWESOME question and Good Luck :p

Answer 2

There should be a nurse or medical personel who monitors the patient's intravenous fluids.
When you say IV control .Is it the dripping rate of the IV or the introduction of medicine(eg. some mg of adrenaline thru IV) to the saline/dextrose/ringer solution?
As you should know being a programmer, Quote "Garbage In, Garbage Out" principle of computers.
Therefore , bad data = bad output.
And when in doubt, always asked for opinions. I usually can't see my own bug in the programs I wrote. Get a print out of the program and asked a co worker to check it for you.
Don't worry so much if the hospital uses computer automation they should have done some risk analysis.
Beside the doctors are the one who swear the hippocrates oath, not the programmer.
sidenote is the program embedded?

Answer 3

Not a chance.

If a person is performing a task for which they are being remunerated by an employer, the employer takes full responsibility for the outputs of the employee as long as the employee did not break any laws.

The employer may be sued, but not the programmer.

Answer 4

It basically comes down to the 'Intension' of the programmer. If the Programmer has knowingly left the bug unrectified or has introduced the bug with 'malintension' or has not tested his software 'adequatly', then he is liable. Other wise he cann't be held responsible.

note : 'Mal Intension' and 'Adequatly' are subjective terms.

Answer 5

no, but he should always find the holes in his program, and update it.

but if the hospital messed it up, then it's their fault

Answer 6

First find out the problem. I think your application is not tested properly.

Answer 7

Only if he has insurance (or is wealthy in his own right)!

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