Dear readers,
I have been getting feedback on intermittent errors (broken links, inability to access the whitepaper etc) when one tries to access the “The DICOM Conformance Black Paper – What Your Vendors Don’t Want You To Know“.
I tested the access several times over an extended period but it always worked fine.. until today where I got a 404 file missing message.
I have since fixed the problem and updated all the relevant links, if you are still interested in accessing the whitepaper, please kindly try again
https://binaryhealthcare.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/dicom-conformance1.pdf
BinaryHealthCare (BNHC) 
While your point about non-plug-and-play stands – I believe the example you have regarding the missing accession number is technically incorrect. Accession number is Type 2 and therefore allowed to be of zero length – which would appear to be the case. Its still a pain in the neck, though… 🙂
I think you meant to say that it is required but can be ‘0’ if (and only if) unknown.
In this case, it is not unknown, the field is not even available due to non-compliance.
Yes, it is a pain in the neck.