Medindia LOGIN REGISTER
Medindia

Samaritan's Suicide Watch Radar App, Now Down Due to Patient Vulnerability Concerns

by Himabindu Venkatakrishnan on Nov 8 2014 7:12 PM

 Samaritan
Suicidal tendencies in Twitter users were being traced using the Samaritan's suicide watch radar app. But the app has been taken down now owing to serious patient vulnerability concerns.


The BBC said that the charity's app was meant to use an algorithm to identify key words and phrases, which indicated distress. However, the app is said to have been making those with mental health issues feel more vulnerable.

The Samaritans issued an apology to "anyone who has inadvertently been caused any distress".

The charity's policy director, Joe Ferns, said in a statement that the Samaritans had decided to suspend the application at this time for further consideration.

Source-ANI


Advertisement