If I made everyone mad at me at least once, I figured I was doing a good job as a newspaper reporter. Since reporters write their stories using less than 10% of notes they've taken, there's room for skewed judgment, error -- and outraged readers, justified or not.

Health reporting is particularly complex. And as traditional media downsize, there are fewer reporters who can specialize in an important and complex area like medicine. Which provides fodder for sites like www.HealthNewsReview.org , which University of Minnesota journalism prof Gary Schwitzer uses to evaluate the good/bad of coverage.

Here are typical lapses in health reporting as Schwitzer told Minnesota Public Radio:

• Single-source stories, especially overlooking potential conflicts of interests;
• Costs of new treatments and drugs;
• Marginal benefits of some treatments and the potential health risks involved;
• Unnecessary care, citing as an example false readings on prostate cancer tests that cause needless treatments; and
• Lack of basic understanding of medical research. "A lot of the time that's because today's medical reporter was on the crime beat last week and on the weather the week before," said Gavin Yamey, a medical publication editor.

Here's what I would add to the list: Failing to cite the sample population size in a study and to compare it with previous studies; Failure to provide caution to the reader -- like, "see your own doctor before pursuing any treatment."

There are plenty of opportunities for knowledgeable readers to yell "gotcha" by finding errors or incomplete thought in medical coverage. Do you know the difference between "costs" and "charges"?  Did you know that many prescribed medications are put together by contracted labs overseas with little oversight (how many people died this year from tainted heparin from China)?