Sure, and even if the surgery happened on time, they still might have had a stroke once they got home and had the same outcome.
But as other posts on HN have discussed, anecdotes, especially your own, hit differently.
It makes me thankful the software I work on isn't involved in life and death situations... But then again, it causes me to better consider the things my work could be responsible for (banking). Rushed work that causes a loan application to fail or transaction to be held unnecessarily shouldn't kill someone outright, but there can be real consequences that affect real people just like Rita.
But as other posts on HN have discussed, anecdotes, especially your own, hit differently.
It makes me thankful the software I work on isn't involved in life and death situations... But then again, it causes me to better consider the things my work could be responsible for (banking). Rushed work that causes a loan application to fail or transaction to be held unnecessarily shouldn't kill someone outright, but there can be real consequences that affect real people just like Rita.