What if the lab results thought to be our own really were not? Hey, mistakes happen in all walks of life. And labs are not immune. But there are a few steps we can take to protect ourselves. Here they are:

• Ask your doctor about the lab he or she uses. It should be accredited and approved by the College of American Pathologists, a sign the lab meets high standards.
  
  
• If you can see the test tube or slide, make sure your name is on it. If you are in the hospital, make sure your wristband is accurate.

As a resource of medical information, take into account that there are over 25,000 medical journals published worldwide. For most of us, it is an overwhelming volume of information.

Doctor Evidence is an independent user-friendly fee-based medical search service connecting patients and doctors to the latest in relevant information which can then lead to the formulation of informed decisions about medical treatments -- and avoid potentially deadly mistakes in misdiagnosis, treatment or surgery.

In 2000, Dr. Todd Feinman founded Doctor Evidence after undergoing unnecessary surgery for intestinal cancer. After surgery he was told that the test that led to surgery had been a false-positive. He did not have cancer.

According to Dr. Feinman, "Every year, hundreds of new therapies and diagnostic tests are introduced to treat the thousands of diseases that are afflicting millions of adults and children. Finding evidence about the most accurate diagnostic tests and effective treatments requires the proper resources. This includes specialized information technologies, subscriptions to medical databases, medical librarians, and much more that is not readily available to most doctors and patients."

Yesterday, Extra aired a feature about Dr. Feinman and the Doctor Evidence service. During the report, a patient who had been told he might have pancreatic cancer turned to the Doctor Evidence website only to find out that one of the high-niacin level medications he was taking was mimicking symptoms of pancreatitis or pancreatic cancer. You can view the video of the segment online here.

Doctor Evidence staff is comprised of doctors with expertise in evidence-based medicine, medical librarians with masters in library science, other professionals with expertise in healthcare, and information technology experts. To learn more, visit the Doctor Evidence website.

A study completed by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies has found that at least 1.5 million people are harmed as a result of medication errors each year.

The panel recommends steps that health care organizations, government agencies, and pharmaceutical companies can take to reduce the level of medication errors. The incentive for these combined groups is a saving of an estimated $3.5 billion dollars now spent each year by hospitals on the medical costs attributed to treating drug-related mistakes.

Several of the recommendations for health care organizations, government agencies, and pharmaceutical companies include standardization of the text and design of medication leaflets so consumers can understand them; and the creation of a website by the government that provides a comprehensive and easily understandable source of educational information about drugs and to fund a national telephone line for people who don't have internet access.

The panel also offers suggestions to patients in keeping them safe where medications are involved. Patients should keep a list of all medications and all non-prescription drugs taken, as well as all vitamins and herbal remedies; review the list with their health care provider; and ask questions and expect complete explanations before agreeing to take a medication.

The Institute of Medicine of the National Academies has published What You Can Do to Avoid Medication Errors, as a fact sheet for patients, available as a PDF document.

You have just been told you need surgery. You have questions. Here's one you might not think to ask the surgeon. Do you play video games? Beth Israel Medical Center researchers asked and what they discovered is surgeons who play video games prior to surgery made less mistakes. During a laparoscopic surgical training course, surgeons who played video games before the laparoscopic surgery training exercise completed the procedure an average of 11 seconds faster with less error than the surgeons who did not play video games.

Dr. James Rosser, lead investigator of the study is quoted as saying, "Performing laparoscopic surgery is like trying to tie your shoe laces with three-foot-long chopsticks while watching on a TV screen." Laparoscopic surgical procedures are commonly performed for uterus or colon surgeries. Rosser has been playing video games for over thirty years. He wanted to minimize the number of surgical errors made by surgeons and developed the Top Gun Laparoscopic Surgery Skill and Suturing Program, and took his cue from the flight simulator training pilots use.

I would be so flabbergasted if this following story happened to me. Apparently a radiologist gave 17 women a positive prognosis expressing they were clear of cancer, now they have been told of a risk of death from breast cancer. I feel shocked that this could happen. Imagine how these women must feel. It seems the radiologist was the only one employed by the hospitals he worked for, so no second radiologist was there to check him, or each other for that matter. All of his tests have been recalled and have been under examination. The Government has been asked to help these women financially to be able to fight cancer, they once thought were clear of. Good Luck Ladies!