SAN DIEGO -- Jenn Brady had no reason to think she had breast cancer.

"No family history; I was healthy, in shape and I was young -- 35 years old," she explained.

But a routine mammogram last year revealed a tiny tumor.

"And it was aggressive," Brady said.

The cancer, a form called triple negative, was caught before it spread to her lymph nodes, giving her a 95 percent chance of survival.

"That mammogram saved my life," she said.

Mammograms are the key screening tool for breast cancer, said Dr. Chris Comstock, Director of Breast Imaging at the University of California, San Diego Medical Center.

"It really is the only proven test," he explained.

Since 1992, all mammography centers have had to meet strict federal guidelines.

"So that when women go into a breast center, they know that they are getting a high level of quality," Comstock said

The Food and Drug Administration oversees annual inspections, but patients do not see the results.

But the 10News I-Team obtained the results, including 55 inspection reports for local facilities. The I-Team got the inspection reports after making a request to the FDA through the Freedom of Information Act.

The I-Team found various violations including the most serious, a Level 1, which "may seriously compromise the quality of mammography services."

Paradise Valley Hospital had a Level 1 for performing mammograms for two years after the hospital was ordered to stop.

"I really feel like I was wronged," said Kimberly Edmondson. She had a mammogram at Paradise Valley hospital in 2005, while the program was not certified. She said her breast cancer was missed.

"It was positive for cancer, stage 2," she said.

The hospital was fined nearly $300,000, and it is now under new ownership and no longer offers mammograms.

The VA Medical Center in La Jolla also received a Level 1 during a 2002 inspection for "performing mammography without a valid certificate."

"There was some confusion initially about whether we were still doing mammography," said Dr. Robert Smith, Chief of Staff at the VA Medical Center.

He said mammograms at the VA had stopped right when the FDA visited because there were not enough patients to maintain accreditation. Technologists must perform 200 mammograms within 24 months to stay qualified.

Last fall, the VA re-launched its program and the FDA has already visited.

"We've been able to demonstrate that all the appropriate standards for quality and safety of the program," said Smith.

UCSD's Breast Center had no violations, but since inspection reports are not made public, Comstock said it's up to patients to ask the right questions.

"You want to make sure that their units are certified and that they are licensed," he said.

Sen. Jenny Oropeza (D-Long Beach) said patients deserve better.

"Our goal is not to catch people violating; it's to not have them violating at all," she said.

On Oct. 11, a bill she authored was signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. It requires mammogram facilities to post serious violations where patients can see them, and the new rule goes into effect Jan. 1.

"I think there is universal agreement that women have a right to this information," she said.