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Ethical Dilemma: Quality control manager. - Coggle Diagram
Ethical Dilemma: Quality control manager.
Hold the software developer accountable and ensure his program is correct.
Do not hold software developer accountable and do not check his work.
Stakeholders:
Patients
Programmer
AECL
Hospitals
FDA
Quality assurance manager
Therac 25 operators
Relevant facts
Reputations of company at stake.
Therac 25 relied primarily on software for control
Therac 25 did not have the necessary hardware to stop accidents from happening
Program was developed by a single person
Programmer used assembly language to create the software quickly and with little memory, although there were safer alternatives
Who could benefit.
Software developer has to do less work
Quality control manager has to do less work
The company saving money on work since its only one programmer.
Clients who buy Therac 25 since these events would likely make it cheaper.
Pros
Less work for software developer
Saves time
Saves money
Software developer will have extensive knowledge on the code they created
Less work for quality control manager
Cons
Lack of personnel would make the project take longer
Errors are likely to happen with one person writing code and not being held accountable
If anything happened to software developer the project would be more difficult to complete
Who's rights may be abridged.
Patients being treated with unstandardized software.
Who could be hurt
Patients
The families of those who died or were hurt
The companies reputation
The hospitals repuation
Quality assurance manager
What could have been done differently or could be done in the future.
Safety should not rely on software as much.
Have multiple people on the project to reduce errors and keep accountability
Quality control manage must be skeptical of the softwares readiness
Inform quality control manager and clients of possible erros
Perform quality testing
Get third party quality assurance testing.
Decision.
The decision is that the quality control manager must hold the software developer accountable and question whether their code is flawless. If the code is flawed the quality control manager must ensure any issues are rectified before sending the product out on the market. Although this decision will not be cost effective it will save lives and the reputation of AECL, hospital's, software developer and the quality control manager. This is the right ethical choice.
Pros
Safer program
Catching errors before the product goes to market
AECL can have more confidence in their product
Once tested the quality control manager does not have to worry if the product is flawed or not.
Less room for error
Lead to FDA approval
Cons
Will cost the AECL more money to create
Software developer will work more
Quality control manager will work more
Clients will pay more for product
Who could be hurt
The software developer will work longer hours
Quality control manager will work longer hours
AECL will need more money to create the product.
Clients will have to spend more for the product.
Who benefits
Patients
Clients reputation
AECL repuation
Whos rights might be abridged
The software developer. Having their work run through, tested and questioned.