Part 2/6:
On March 21, 1986, Ray Cox entered the East Texas Cancer Treatment Center to receive his regularly scheduled 180 RADS of radiation for a tumor in his back. Little did he know that this routine visit would ultimately cost him his life.
The operator at the Therac-25 console quickly entered the prescription data, accidentally inputting "X" for x-ray therapy instead of "E" for the prescribed electron therapy. Realizing the mistake, the operator swiftly corrected the input, changing it to electron mode.
However, this simple error would have catastrophic consequences.