CHICAGO -- Four years ago, a study stunned the medical community when it concluded that more than 1 million Americans are injured each year by medical mistakes.

Now, another study has been conducted focusing solely on pediatric mistakes.

Six-year-old Alex Bork (pictured, left), of Chicago, knows his ABCs, but he'll never develop at a normal pace due to a mistake that was made when his mother was in labor.

"It was an overstimulation of the uterus caused by a medication they had given me. And the uterus had literally ripped open," Theresa Bork told WMAQ-TV in Chicago.

Theresa Bork said nurses ignored her pain, while inside her body, Alex squeezed out of her uterus, under her ribs, and began to suffocate. Twenty minutes later, surgeons resuscitated Alex, but the damage was done.

"Alex has cerebral palsy. He went without oxygen and has got damage to the brain," said Theresa Bork.

Even discounting obstetric errors, a recent study in the Journal Of Pediatrics reported one in 35 hospitalized children is a victim of a medical mistake.

Health consultant and author Michael Millenson said it can happen in doctors' offices, as well.

"Polls show that people feel very, very safe in their own doctor's office. And the same polls show that 40 percent of people have been subject to a medical error -- or know somebody who has -- in a doctor's office," according to Millenson.

How can parents protect their children? Neither Millenson nor Theresa Bork's attorney, Terrance Lavin, have faith in state regulations.

Lavin said that while some states are way ahead of the curve, Illinois is way behind. He said the state should do a better job of disciplining the doctors and letting patients know what doctors have been sued.

But hospitals can get ahead of the curve, as the University of Illinois/Chicago Medical Center has with a robotic pharmacist.

RESOURCE 20 Tips To Prevent Medical Errors In Kids

At Vanderbilt Children's Hospital, a similar computer system dropped prescription errors from an astounding 30 percent to almost zero.

Hospitals also can require doctors to consult each other before surgery and mark the correct body parts on which they'll be operating.

Pharmacy professor Jan Engle said the best protectors, though, may be the questions patients' parents ask.

Engle said parents should ask: What's the medicine I'm supposed to get? What is it used for? What is the dose that I'm giving my child, and is it correct for the amount that my child weighs?

Other experts recommend the following tips:

• Ask doctors how they deal with the possibility of medical errors. For instance, do they encourage parents and nurses to call them at any hour if they suspect trouble?
• Ask how many hospital nurses have four-year degrees. What's their average shift? How many children do they care for?
• Read any prescription you get. If you can't read and understand it, the pharmacist can't, either.
• Make sure any X-rays are read by a radiologist, not just your pediatrician.