I said no data was leaving. On the first good run, two records left

A reporter was questioned about whether patient data was being sent to an external source while the system was still being developed. After examining the logs of each run, the reporter confirmed that no outbound calls were being made. The first instance where data was transmitted occurred after overcoming the 500 error, and it sent two requests containing real clinical information.

The reporter's initial statement was inaccurate, as they had evidence proving otherwise. The issue did not stem from misreading the logs, but rather from not recognizing what prevented the data from being transmitted. The root cause was that the log entries did not indicate "I didn't send" but rather "I never reached the part that sends."

These seemingly similar statements can lead to different outcomes, such as something not happening or the counter not being incremented. Other examples include a "not found" error meaning the data does not exist or the search being conducted in the wrong location. A green test result could indicate a successful test or the test being skipped altogether.

A zero exit code could mean the command was successful or strangled by a pipe that suppressed the exit code. A silent dashboard might suggest everything is functioning correctly or the process responsible for feeding the dashboard has been inactive for an extended period. The article emphasizes the importance of demanding specific evidence before accepting a negative result.

Before concluding that something does not occur, one must verify that the code responsible for performing the task actually ran. If this cannot be confirmed, the answer should be "cannot be determined" rather than "no." The author identifies the first step as the most crucial and regrettable oversight, which led to the transmission of two instances of patient data that had been previously certified as nonexistent.