History's Worst Software Error

In 1985, a state-of-the-art radiation therapy device called the THERAC-25 started blasting holes through patients' bodies, leading to the world’s first death by radiation treatment overdose. It killed two more people before anyone knew what was going wrong. Why?

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[SavageGerbil]

If you're shouting "it's not possible" over a mound of dead and dying, it's probably time to acknowledge that you could be wrong

[DivusMagus]

The idea that a machine will constantly throw up error messages but no one questions is safety even after multiple deaths.

[saopadaek]

I can’t imagine receiving 20, 000 rads of radiation and just be GASLIGHTED by everyone around me. I would go crazy

[atomgutan]

The fact that text with MALFUNCTION in it being displayed by the software that controls a radiation machine didn't at least discourage the operators from proceeding is absolutely insane.

[bilboswaggings]

5 orders of magnitude safer doesn't make me think: "oh that is safe!"
Instead it makes me go: "How fking unsafe was it that it could easily be made 5 orders safer!!"

[AshkanKiani]

“You dont think of software being able to fail.” As a software engineer, I laughed out loud at that. If only people knew had bad it really was.

[parmesanzero]

When you get immediately get a call telling you to “stop making claims” after calling about a concern, it’s a clear indication that something is terribly wrong and you’re dealing with Evil.

[ThePhiphler]

There is a missing piece to this story. If it was able to fail with strong-beam, Tungsten disengaged, it would also be able to fail with weak-beam, Tungsten engaged. Many patients likely got near zero radiation when they were supposed to get a couple of hundred rads.

[SenseiRice]

My dad is a software engineer and he always tells me that "computers are only as smart as the guy that programmed it" I think this is a prime example

[ThePhoenixPyre]

I’m a Software Quality Engineer for a medical company and sent this video to my team. It’s important to see the real life effects that can happen if we don’t do our jobs right.

[jeremiahmorin]

The most disgusting part of this story is how the company got away with it. It's a footnote in history despite how many lives they destroyed.

[TheChrisLeone]

The fact that you just had to pres "p" to proceed and it worked regardless of error is craaaazy. My phone won't even let me uninstall an app without confirming that's what I meant to do

[xXSgtJackXx]

The guy who got up and started banging on the door has to be the most spine chilling radiation story ive ever heard
Imagine being locked in a room with a malfunctioning radiation machine and being bombed repeatedly with painful waves over and over again while you couldnt be heard because of a intercom malfunction

[sarahfay]

My father was treated with a Therac-25 in late 1985. He died, 15 years later, from radiation-related complications and did not survive to see me graduate high school. Seeing this, all that time later, I consider it ironic that I ended up going into software development, not knowing the history of the Therac-25 until today.

[Andrew-wvqp]

The most infuriating part of this story is how AECL repeatedly denied their machine injured someone, even though that individual clearly showed symptoms of radiation sickness. Where else did they think these individuals received a dose such as that? It borders on criminal indifference, which is a condition for a murder charge.

[EarlyAmerican]

My mom's best friend recieved too much radiation for her brain cancer a few years ago. She went in completely normal, talking and all (this was supposed to be her last dose. The tumor was gone but the doctor recomended one more to be certain). After the radiation she was pushed out in a wheelchair and was brain dead. She went in talking. Came out brain dead. The doctors eventually took her off of life support with her daughter's consent some months later. This happend in Canda by the way. This happens ALL OF THE TIME and so few are talking about it.

[lu]

The idea that people saw a malfunction, didn't know what that meant and just went ahead in a radioactive treatment scares me

[SUNC_]

Rather than a horror story about technology, this is a horror story about cynicism, selfishness and apathy

[StrokeMahEgo]

A very clear example of, "yes, a medical company will absolutely put profit above your life."

[Aguels]

Im more impressed to hear that the operators used to discard the errors, even without even knowing his meaning. Is really shocking how lightly they treated a machine capable of emitting radiation