Ohh this has already started. Happened to me the other day: machine for rectal air insufflation under x-ray guidance to allow reduction of an intussusception (a condition where the bowel folds in on itself). It primarily affects young children and if the procedure fails they require an open operation. Failure to treat the intussusception eventually results in bowel perforation, peritonitis and potentially death.
Went to start the procedure, machine reports it’s ready to work, all set up, assistant presses start, cryptic error messages. No way to fix. Turns out our license has improperly expired for reasons unknown. No way to override.
It’s past 5 pm Friday of the New Year’s weekend. No one on call for the company has any idea how to fix. Took three hours repeatedly phoning the company to finally get put through to an engineer who gave us magic series of button presses and codes to get the machine working.
We used to have a purely mechanical machine, maintained in house by an on site engineer. Now we have to deal with this. There is only one company making these machines, so no competition. Progress.