What's the Basis?

I remember someone once telling me about an assignment in which she read the descriptions of scientific studies, and then read the studies themselves. Often the description (in a textbook or whatever) was completely wrong. Certainly you also see a lot of distortion when the media reports on a scientific advance or the result of a medical study. It calls into question our ability to disseminate the knowledge we produce.

Anyway, I think this must also be a common experience for lawyers. Quite often, I'll see a case cited for a proposition that it simply doesn't support. Because of the way common law works, though, this misunderstanding can spread quite far. Case B misstates the holding of Case A. Case C cites Case B for the (incorrect) holding. Cases D, E, and F all cite Case C (or each other). When you drill down, you find out that there's nothing backing up the ostensible holding of Case A. It's extremely frustrating.