Slashdot Mirror


Medical Equipment Crashes During Heart Procedure Because Of Antivirus Scan (softpedia.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Softpedia: The device in question is Merge Hemo, a complex medical equipment used to supervise heart catheterization procedures, during which doctors insert a catheter inside blood veins and arteries in order to diagnose various types of heart diseases. According to one such report filed by Merge Healthcare in February, Merge Hemo suffered a mysterious crash right in the middle of a heart procedure when the screen went black and doctors had to reboot their computer. Merge investigated the issue and later reported to the FDA that the problem occurred because of the antivirus software running on the doctors' computer. The antivirus was configured to scan for viruses every hour, and the scan started right in the middle of the procedure. Merge says the antivirus froze access to crucial data acquired during the heart catheterization. Unable to access real-time data, the app crashed spectacularly.

1 of 266 comments (clear)

  1. RT OS for Reatime tasks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Picking an OS that clear says not use it for real time possible life endangering task is a huge mistake!! QNX, RT_Linux, and more!!! Hello!!!