My husband told me about a patient who checked in to a Florida hospital for a life-saving amputation. He awoke to find that the wrong foot had been removed. IN the same hospital, another patient had surgery on the wrong knee.

Defenders of the healthcare system point out that such tragic cases of malpractice are like airline crashes—they are newsworthy because they are so rare. In that Florida hospital, officials responded with a plan to avoid what could go wrong: Staffers now write “NO” with a black Magic Marker on the healthy limb.

It seemed innocent enough at the time. I had just come home from high school and told my mom that I was going to a friend’s house to play volleyball. She insisted that I stay home and do my homework. Instead, I slipped out the back door and spent the next 2 hours making tackles and touchdowns in my friend’s backyard. But on the last play, I was tackled into a swingset and knocked out my front tooth. It hurt like crazy, but not as badly as telling my parents.

My elder sister started wearing glasses when she was 10 years old. They are still a necessity because her 50-something eyes are losing their battle against time. When she was younger, she thought glasses were a nuisance—especially when playing sports. Once, the lenses of her glasses got cracked while she was playing softball. It took several weeks to get them replaced. In the meantime, she saw everything in a skewed and distorted way.

My Uncle Lester, who lives in Florida , was discouraged by the lack of fruit on his grapefruit tree. Someone told him he needed to whack the trunk of the tree a few times with a board.

Apparently, there is some truth to this unusual method of encouraging growth. One gardening expert says” “At times, the flowering hormone in the tree seems to get stuck and no flowers appear. Carefully persuade the tree to flower by shocking it. Hit the trunk…several times, (which will cause) small bruises in the bark.” This advice may stimulate growth.