THERAC-25

Do you remember those horrible accidents in '86 and '87? 

Do you remember one patient's description "something had hit him on the side of the face, he saw a flash of light, and he heard a sizzling sound reminiscent of frying eggs". He was very agitated and asked, "What happened to me, what happened to me?" 

Does MALFUNCTION 54 sound familiar?

We came to the rescue of AECL Medical by performing extensive analysis of the software for this linear particle accelerator-based cancer therapy machine. 

One writer wrote "A close inspection of the code was also conducted during this safety analysis to obtain more information on which to base decisions. An outside consultant performed the inspection... No information is provided in the final safety report about whether any particular methodology or tools were used in the software inspection or whether someone just read the code looking for errors."

The "outside consultant" and "someone" was HCRQ and our in-depth analysis encompassed much more than reading the code looking for errors. But, of course, the details of exactly what we performed is protected by a confidentiality and non-disclosure agreement. 

Despite all of the articles that have been written, aside from the manufacturer, we know more about the safety of this device than anyone.


By the way, take a look at our expertise in post-accident safety analysis.