From banking and managing finances to shopping and ordering pizza, almost everything these days is done electronically. Not every sector of society has been quick to embrace the electronic age, however. The medical community has remained behind the digital curve.

Becoming ill may be a bad dream in-and-of itself, but being misdiagnosed, only to have the illness exacerbate tenfold before an accurate diagnosis can be rendered, is a nightmare. We put our trust in doctors and hospitals, assuming that they will take all precautions necessary to ensure a proper diagnosis. When those precautions are not taken, though, results can mean a lifetime of pain or suffering for the victim.

For many years, hospitals have had a reputation for hiding mistakes. Recently, a few hospitals have started to admit to mistakes, apologizing and attempting to fix what went wrong.

Early detection is the key to successfully treating most types of cancer. The sooner the physician is able to determine that a patient has cancer, the sooner the physician can develop a course of appropriate treatment for the disease. Sometimes, however, doctors misdiagnose cancer.

Airway injuries generally occur when a health care provider fails to properly manage a patient's airways. This can occur during intubation - when the patient has a breathing tube inserted down his or her throat, nasal passage or directly into the trachea - or during extubation, when the tube is removed.