lead to accidental pollutant-filled releases and emissions that could endanger local
residents. In August, 1998, a malfunctioning computer in Boulder, Colorado was blamed
for water main breaks that cut service to over 40 homes, flooded basements and garages,
and turned city streets into raging rivers. A computer controlling water pressure gave
inaccurate readings, prompting a city worker to open the mains. Some residents and
businesses were left without water for over a week. Major Hospital staff have prepared
for a water shortage. They have stocked up on bottled water, just as every other hospital
has done. However, bottled water will only last so long. In the event of a prolonged
water shortage, such as the one in Boulder, Major Hospital personnel will be faced with
personal hygiene and medicine issues. Patients must be bathed on a daily basis and
washed off completely. It is difficult to comprehend a hospital as an unsanitary
environment; where doctors must ?scrub? repeatedly to reduce the risk of infection and
patients must be kept free of germs. Medicines are sometimes mixed with water to form
their completed structure. This crux could alarm the many patients who depend on these
medicines. The sewage treatment plant in Shelbyille, Indiana that services Major Hospital
states that the plant is already Y2K compliant.
The faculty and staff at Major Hospital is extremely confident that when the new
millennium arrives, it will not be accompanied by any significant problems or catastrophes
with regard to malfunctioning utilities. If any problems do surface, Major Hospital has
assured its community and its patients that the problems will be minor in scope and will be
quickly and efficiently dealt with.
As has been discussed in this report, the Y2K problem is a vast and complex issue
that must be dealt with by hospitals. Virtually every facet of hospital care is affected by
the Y2K problem. Patient care, clerical software, and utilities are three major aspects of
the hospital organization that, if left unchecked for Y2K compliance, could cause
confusion, sickness, and even death among hospital patients. Worst case scenarios involve
malfunctioning pacemakers, improper medication being dispensed, and unusable
defibrillators in emergency situations. The Major Hospital staff, like most other hospital
staffs, continues to work diligently to ensure that whatever malfunctions occur are minor.
It is difficult to predict the scope of the Y2K problem and the possible severity of
related malfunctions when the most knowledgeable computer experts disagree on the
severity of the problem. According to Alastair Stewart, a senior Year 2000 advisor with
information technologies market watcher Giga Information Group, the Y2K computer
date bug will not cause an ?embedded systems Armageddon? as some have feared. ?It
may rain, but the sky won?t fall.? Giga recently called for a ?common-sense approach? to
the Y2K threat. Some projected scenarios have Y2K failures toppling civilization. For
example, in one sequence of falling dominoes, embedded track switching controls will
cause railroads to fail to deliver coal to power generation plants. As a result, electric
utilities–which have Y2K problems of their own–will shut down. As the power grid goes
dead, telephones will stop working. Without communications the interlinked banks and
international finance structures begin to fall and, ultimately, so does civilization.
?Can you hear the four horsemen galloping off in the distance?? remarked Stewart.
?It?s easy to scare people with talk about The Great God Teowawki.? ?Teowawki?
stands for ?the end of the world as we know it,? Stewart explained.
Just as some downplay potential Y2K problems, others offer substantial evidence
that the Y2K problem is for real. Mike Wedland, a noted software expert and author of
numerous computer software guides, produces the following examples for consideration:
U.S. Social Security computer programmers have identified 30 million lines of code
that need to be changed to reflect the correct date after the year 2000. Some 400
programmers have been working on this problem since 1991. As of June, 1997 they
had corrected only 5 million lines.
The Internal Revenue Service has identified 100 million lines of code that need to be
changed in their computers to fix Y2K problems. They have only found about 300
programmers and they are just now getting started.
An estimated 65 percent of the businesses in the U.S that need to correct the problem
have done nothing so far.
Regardless of whether the Y2K problem is all hype or a catastrophe waiting to
happen, hospitals must prepare for the worst. While businesses deal in profits and stocks,
hospitals deal in human beings. When peoples? health and lives are at stake it is best to be
aggressively cautious. It appears that most U.S. hospitals have a firm understanding of the
consequences of not being Y2K compliant, and are dealing with the issue accordingly.