The Wreck of HL7
May 18, 2011A wonderful contribution from Jean-Henri Duteau: 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!”