Actually if your embedded system will stop keeping a patient alive if you crash and the zero value doesn't cause any harm then you don't crash. There are lots

Actually if your embedded system will stop keeping a patient alive if you crash and the zero value doesn't cause any harm then you don't crash. There are lots of situations where it makes sense to keep computing even if you suspect the input data is wrong. It's not really good practice to always be crashing. You need to decide how to handle the bad input on a case-by-case basis.