Sunday, July 31, 2011

The Wreck of HL7

An interesting ditty by Jean-Henri Duteau, reposted from the ever excellent Health Intersections Pty Ltd (after: The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald)



The legend lives on from ANSI on down
of the SDO they called “HL7.
Health Standards, it is said, never gives up her dead
when the skies of November turn gloomy.
With a load of designers twenty-six thousand tons more
than when HL7 started early,
that good SDO was a bone to be chewed
when “Semantic Interoperability” came early.
The SDO was the pride of the American side
coming back from some place in Ann Arbor.
As SDOs go, it was bigger than most
with a crew and CEO well seasoned,
concluding some terms with a couple of projects
when they left fully loaded for Orlando.
And later that night when the supper bell rang,
could it be the north wind they’d been feelin’?
The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound
and a wave broke over the railing.
And ev’ry man knew, as the CEO did too
’twas witch of Interoperability come stealin’.
The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
when Semantic Interoperability came slashin’.
When afternoon came it was freezin’ rain
in the face of a hurricane west wind.
When suppertime came the old Board chair came on deck sayin’.
“Fellas, it’s too rough t’feed ya.”
At seven P.M. a main hatchway caved in; he said,
“Fellas, it’s bin good t’know ya!”
The CEO wired in he had water comin’ in
and the good SDO was in peril.
And later that night when ‘is lights went outta sight
came the wreck of HL7.
Does any one know where the love of God goes
when the requirements turn the minutes to hours?
The searchers all say they’d have made Normative
if they’d put fifteen more miles behind ’er.
They might have split up or they might have capsized;
they may have broke deep and took water.
And all that remains is the faces and the names
of the wives and the sons and the daughters.
In a musty old hall in Ann Arbor they prayed,
in the “Health Informatics’ Cathedral.”
The church bell chimed ’til it rang twenty-nine times
for each man on the HL7 Board.
The legend lives on from ANSI on down
of the big SDO they call “HL7.
“Health Standards” they said, “never gives up her dead
when Semantic Interoperability come early!”



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