Alison Baulos said her 73-year-old father was about to go to a Kentucky hospital for open-heart surgery when it was abruptly canceled early on July 19. His procedure was one of many surgeries and medical treatments halted across the country due to a global technology outage.
The global IT outage stemmed from a faulty software update released by a cybersecurity company, affecting customers running Microsoft Windows operating systems.
“It really makes you realize how much we rely on technology and how scary it is,” Baulos said.
Mr. Gary Baulos with his daughter Alison and granddaughter Athena. Photo: Alison Baulos
The American Hospital Association said the impact of the incident varied widely, with some hospitals remaining unaffected while others had to delay, divert or cancel treatments.
Baulos said her father, Gary Baulos, was told on July 17 that some tests showed he had eight blockages and an aneurysm, requiring surgery. He was scheduled for surgery on July 18 and had found a hotel near Baptist Hospital in Paducah, Kentucky, about an hour's drive from home. He was about to arrive at the hospital around 4 a.m. on July 19 when he got a call saying the surgery would be postponed because of a power outage.
At Guthrie Clinics in New York and Pennsylvania, emergency departments remain open, but outpatient labs and X-ray appointments have been canceled. All elective surgeries have been postponed, and patient visits are being conducted on paper only.
Sahana Singh arrived at the clinic in Ithaca, New York, at 9 a.m., only to be told that her heart test would be postponed for two weeks. "Technology is about making things more efficient. We didn't think that a small software update would cripple the entire system globally," she said.
Boston-based Mass General Brigham Health System said it canceled all non-emergency visits due to the power outage, but its emergency rooms remained open. The health system was unable to access patient health records and schedules.
Harris Health System, which operates public hospitals and clinics in the Houston area, said on the morning of July 19 that it was suspending hospital visits “until further notice.” Appointments were canceled and rescheduled. Clinic appointments were suspended but have since resumed.
The outage affected the records system of Providence, a health system with 51 hospitals in Alaska, California, Montana, Oregon and Washington state. Access to patient records has been restored, but the servers remain down, the Washington-based health system said in a statement on July 19.
Ngoc Anh (according to AP)
Source: https://www.congluan.vn/su-co-it-toan-cau-lam-dung-cac-ca-phau-thuat-dieu-tri-y-te-tren-khap-nuoc-my-post304236.html
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