In October, Cathy Uhl gave a blood sample as part of a routine physical examination, but less than two months later - according to the hospital that processed her laboratory results - she was dead.

Fortunately, Uhl and some 8,500 other patients who received treatment at St. Mary's Mercy Medical Center in Grand Rapids, Mich., between Oct. 25 and Dec. 11 were able to read of their unfortunate "demise in the bills sent out by the hospital's flawed patient-management software system.

"You could say I was a little surprised," Uhl says. "I was pretty sure I wasn't dead, but you never know. The hospital explained it was just a computer glitch, but I'm still waiting to see what this is going to mean for me."

More at Baseline