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Ethical Dilemma: The company that created the Therac-25, AECL, was…
Ethical Dilemma: The company that created the Therac-25, AECL, was informed of the bugs with the machine, but failed to take necessary steps to fix them putting patients at risk of serious harm and death.
Relevant Facts
AECL engineers discovered the bug in 1983, but did not fix it until 1987.
During this time, 6 accidents seriously harmed patients and 3 patients died directly because of the Therac-25.
The Therac-25 had a software bug that could cause it to deliver a massive overdose of radiation to patients, resulting in serious injury or death.
AECL denied responsibility for injuries, overdoses, and claimed no other accidents had occurred. They even went as far to say that maybe a hospital had electircal problems.
The Therac-25 was a radiation therapy machine developed by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) in the 1980s.
IN 1986, FDA declared Therac-25 defective.
Program for Therac-25 was created by one AECL programmer using assembly language, or very low level language, and relied heavily on the machines software for control. Today this would not meet standards, because it'd be sure to have errors.
Continue to sell the Therac-25 machines without fixing the bugs, but warn about the risks.
Pros
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Less work for AECL, as they aren't wasting time fixing the bugs but can continue to focus on moving forward.
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Who could benefit?
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AECL company and employees can continue to move forward with work and towards new development/profit, rather than taking time to fix Therac-25.
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Decision is to:
Recall all the Therac-25 machines and fix any and all bugs. Based on the analysis, under all 3 ethical theories this would be the right thing to do.
Act utilitarianism allows the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Recalling the Therac-25 would allow the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people.
Under Gert's rules for rule utilitarianism, do not deceive, do not cheat, due your duty, do not cause pain.
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