will stop working. Without communications the interlinked banks andinternational finance structures begin to fall and, ultimately, so does civilization.Can you hear the four horsemen galloping off in the distance? remarked Stewart. Its easy to scare people with talk about The Great God Teowawki. Teowawkistands for the end of the world as we know it, Stewart explained.Just as some downplay potential Y2K problems, others offer substantial evidencethat the Y2K problem is for real. Mike Wedland, a noted software expert and author ofnumerous computer software guides, produces the following examples for consideration:U.S. Social Security computer programmers have identified 30 million lines of codethat need to be changed to reflect the correct date after the year 2000. Some 400programmers have been working on this problem since 1991. As of June, 1997 theyhad corrected only 5 million lines.The Internal Revenue Service has identified 100 million lines of code that need to bechanged in their computers to fix Y2K problems. They have only found about 300programmers and they are just now getting started. An estimated 65 percent of the businesses in the U.S that need to correct the problemhave done nothing so far.Regardless of whether the Y2K problem is all hype or a catastrophe waiting tohappen, 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 beaggressively cautious. It appears that most U.S. hospitals have a firm understanding of theconsequences of not being Y2K compliant, and are dealing with the issue accordingly....
