[comp.software-eng] Software caused deaths

rob@amadeus.TEK.COM (Dan Tilque) (03/19/88)

Gene Spafford writes:
>  Software caused deaths
>and major property losses have occurred, and you can be sure someone is
>going to pay for those!
>
In the March 12th Science News, there is an article about FDA regulation
of software contained in medical instruments.  In it they mention where
two deaths and a severe burn were caused by a bug in a linear accelerator
(used in radiation therapy for cancer).  These are the first cases I have
ever heard about where a death was directly attributed to a software bug.
Are these the only cases, or have there been others?  


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Dan Tilque  --  dant@mrloog.LA.TEK.COM