I have seen this kind of problem before (never in a case where lives were on the line), and I called it "pathological optimism". If you are in a corporate culture of the sort that lionizes "can-do" thinking, then saying "that won't work" is going to look defeatist.

I have to wonder if seeing SV startups go to multi-billion dollar companies on a regular basis, has given CEOs in other industries a case of envy. But more likely, it's just that pathological optimism works, really well, right up until that moment when it doesn't. Taking risks in order to lower costs makes the bottom line better, which seems to call for more of the same, right up until the moment when the risk explodes in your face.

It is not unlike the attitude towards software security, in many industries. People harping about security risks seems like just all cost and no benefit, right up until the point where you have a big problem.