More than 200 people with diabetes injured after software issue drained insulin pump batteries | CNN
More than 200 people with diabetes injured after software issue drained insulin pump batteries | CNN
More than 200 people with diabetes have been injured when their insulin pumps shut down unexpectedly due to a problem with a connected mobile app, the US Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday.
More than 200 people with diabetes have been injured when their insulin pumps shut down unexpectedly due to a problem with a connected mobile app, the US Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday.
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"hello, I would like to inspect the firmware of the insulin pump/pacemaker/artificial heart that keeps me alive, can I have the copy of the source code?"
"no? it's proprietary? well golly! guess I'll trust ya in blind faith then!"
The problem is their insurance company may not give them another option in the American for-profit healthcare system.
Like I said. Blind faith it is.
Yes, that is true any time you are given no choice. But also an unhelpful blaming of the victim.
That's not even remotely the point I was trying to make.
Medical software should not be treated the same as any old random proprietary code.
Right now we just have to trust that "the car has airbags" because no-one is allowed to open it up and check.
That shouldn't need to be the person themselves, but that's the bare minimum of what a sane situation should allow.
Medical devices go through FDA testing and have had software engineers writing closed source code for 40 years. For the most part medical devices remain pretty safe.
Yes, mistakes will happen sometimes when there are billions of devices out there. And if you think just having code in the public will prevent future mistakes I have a bridge to sell ya.
I love how whenever you advocate for this kind of improvement, someone always feels the need to try and dismiss you because "it still won't mean the world is perfect".
You assume I'm under some delusion that if only enough people were allowed to check, every mistake would be caught every time.
I'm not.
And you're being rude about it.
Lol I just said it wasn't blind faith, that there was an effective agency and you started linking statistically irrelevant data. I never said it can't or shouldn't be improved simply that you were factually wrong. Devices go through considerable testing at multiple worldwide bodies and in general these programs are mostly effective at weeding out dangerous products.
Cool.
Unfortunately firmware-related problems especially is something regulatory bodies haven't kept up with. They'll test the device, sure. But not necessarily every line of code that might ever interact with it.
Overall they are operating under outdated levels of complexity while medical device manufacturers are running ahead with wireless functionality, mobile apps, over the air updates, etc.
It's not obvious to me how these things are related, could you elaborate?
they mean that the insurance would only approve one model. i don't think there are any open source pace makers though.