Dialysis

Linthicum-based Dialysis Corp. of America said Wednesday that it has agreed to be acquired for about $112 million by a fellow provider of outpatient dialysis care. The cash offer from U.S. Renal Care Inc., a privately held company in Texas, is for $11.25 per share. That's more than 70 percent above Dialysis Corp.'s $6.52-a-share closing price on Tuesday. The companies said they will provide services to 5,500 patients after the merger, which must be approved by Dialysis Corp.

Dialysis is a lifesaving treatment for those with kidney disorders. But during emergencies, particularly bad weather, sometimes patients don't want to go — or can't get to — their usual dialysis center. There are some steps patients can take to prepare, says Brandon Eck at the DaVita dialysis centers, who volunteers with the company's emergency response team, DaVERT. What is dialysis and why it so important? Dialysis is a life-sustaining therapy for patients whose kidneys no longer function properly.

If it's been a long time between vacations, you might feel as though you are chained to work and home responsibilities. For the 300,000 Americans who suffer kidney failure and need dialysis, that tethered feeling is a reality: Without blood-cleansing treatments, they can't survive. But that doesn't mean they can't take a vacation. In fact, it's encouraged, as long as a dialysis patient is in stable health and other health issues are under control, says Dr. Leslie Spry, a nephrologist in Lincoln, Neb., and a spokesman for the National Kidney Foundation, based in New York.

Josephine D. "Josie" Davis, a dialysis patient for 36 years who continued to work for the Social Security Administration during her treatment, died Aug. 19 from kidney disease at the University of Maryland Medical Center. She was 63 and lived in Pikesville. The daughter of a truck driver and a homemaker, Josephine Dorothy Owens was born one of 13 children in Baltimore and raised on China Street. After graduating from Edmondson High School in 1966, she attended Strayer's Business College and the Community College of Baltimore City on an academic scholarship.

Kevin C. Anderson, one of the longest-living dialysis patients in the United States, died Wednesday of internal bleeding at the University of Maryland Medical Center. The resident of Ten Hills in Baltimore was 52.He was stricken with kidney disease four days before his 26th birthday and underwent hemodialysis two to three times a week for more than 20 years, until he received a kidney transplant 2 1/2 years ago."He waited 11 years for a kidney," recalled the former Marta Lopategue of San Juan, Puerto Rico, whom Mr. Anderson married in 1964.

A Mass of Christian burial for Dagmar M. Maszun, 39, who died after a heart attack Sunday at Francis Scott Key Medical Center, will be offered at 10:30 a.m. Friday at St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, 5502 York Road.Mrs. Maszun, who lived in Woodlawn, had suffered from kidney disease for many years. She had been active in recent weeks as an opponent of proposed budget reductions in the state's kidney dialysis program. The program was subsequently saved.Mrs. Maszun's husband, Joseph D. Morton Jr., said he did not think his wife's death was caused by her activities as a demonstrator and spokeswoman for dialysis patients.

A 67-year-old Baltimore woman is suing a dialysis staffing company, alleging that she was sexually molested by an employee during a treatment in May 2007. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Elizabeth Adams yesterday in Baltimore Circuit Court, says that Malcon Jones of Baltimore caressed her breast during the visit, asking, "Does it feel good?" The suit against Independent Technicians Inc. and Jones is seeking $1 million. David Ellin, a lawyer for Adams, said his client filed suit with the hope that the news coverage would lead to Jones' arrest.

Reversing an earlier decision on one of the most controversial cuts to Maryland's deficit-threatened budget, Gov. William Donald Schaefer said today that he will restore about $6 million for continued payments for the state's kidney dialysis and pharmacy assistance programs.The governor's decision last month to cut state payments on dialysis treatment, a health service offered to nearly 4,200 Marylanders stricken with kidney disease, prompted emotional outcries across the state.At the time the cuts were announced, health officials said patients could find other ways to pay for treatment, particularly through private insurance or Medicaid, a health program for low-income earners.

The logistics of how to have a benefit dance at North Carroll High School in honor of a teacher -- without harming the rubberized gym floor -- were solved with a 1950s approach.They're having a sock hop tonight: Students and teachers will check their shoes at the door along with their coats and hats, said physical education teacher Marsha Herbert, who is organizing the dance.The dance is the first in a long time at North Carroll High School, Ms. Herbert said. It will benefit Carroll Transit System's dialysis transportation service, which suffered from state budget cuts this year.

No matter what Eric Washington is doing - be it catch-up work from the classes he has missed or a game of pick-up football that his doctors have forbidden - he must be home by 10 p.m. No exceptions. As he has every night for nearly three years, the Polytechnic Institute senior must hook himself up to a suitcase-sized contraption that will clean his blood as he sleeps. It's something Eric's kidneys used to do on their own, before they failed him when he was just 14. Now, as he waits for a kidney transplant, he relies on a dialysis machine beside his bed to keep him alive.

Dr. Jimmy Boyd Zachary, a retired Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center physician who was a pioneer in the study of kidney disease, died of cancer Feb. 15 at Gilchrist Hospice Care. He was 83 and lived in Ruxton. Born and raised in Pontotoc County, Miss., Dr. Zachary earned bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Mississippi. He received his M.D. at Harvard Medical School and came to Baltimore as an intern and then chief resident at the old Baltimore City Hospitals, now Bayview.

Linthicum-based Dialysis Corp. of America said Wednesday that it has agreed to be acquired for about $112 million by a fellow provider of outpatient dialysis care. The cash offer from U.S. Renal Care Inc., a privately held company in Texas, is for $11.25 per share. That's more than 70 percent above Dialysis Corp.'s $6.52-a-share closing price on Tuesday. The companies said they will provide services to 5,500 patients after the merger, which must be approved by Dialysis Corp.

At 71, with more than two years of a punishing schedule of dialysis under his belt, William Kavadias thought a new kidney would never come. Transplants, he assumed, were for the young. But last year, Kavadias' life-saving chance came in an unlikely package - a kidney from an older donor became available. The transplant was successful, and today he's feeling great. It's the kind of surgery that many surgeons won't bother to perform. While kidneys from older donors are not suitable for younger patients, they can save seniors' lives, say some transplant surgeons.

For hospitals, emergency workers and those who provide vital health care to patients confined to home, the latest snowstorm presents a bigger challenge than the last. At the University of Maryland Medical Center, the back-to-back storms left the emergency room hectic, with patients injured in falls and vehicle accidents, said Lisa Rowen, senior vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer. In addition, this time of year there's typically a spike in pediatric illnesses such as respiratory viruses and asthma.

The University of Maryland says it is teaming with Maryland companies on 17 research projects to develop products for technologies ranging from wind power to removing nutrients from wastewater. Other projects include restoring vegetation in the Chesapeake Bay and medical technologies for diabetes, kidney disease and other conditions. The companies include Hunt Valley-based Mastix Medica, which is developing a chewing gum to help dialysis patients control phosphorus levels, and Jessup-based American Dynamics Flight Systems, which is working on propulsion systems for unmanned aircraft that can take off and land vertically.

The call coming into Baltimore's storm center on Calvert Street sounded urgent: A city resident needed dialysis, but the clinic's bus couldn't get through her snow-covered street to pick her up for treatment. "This is a person who lives on a street with two hills," explained Meghan Butasek, with the city health department. She ran through the details with an official in the conference room. "So she needs her street cleared?" asked Scott Brillman, with the city's Office of Emergency Management.

Forced into a wheelchair by diabetes and kidney disease, Albert Hammond of South Baltimore signed up with Mobility in 1998 and experienced problems from the start. One night last year, exhausted from dialysis and disoriented after waiting 2 1/2 hours to be picked up, the 57-year-old fell out of his wheelchair, opened a leg sore and was hospitalized. On Christmas Eve, his ride home didn't show and a relative had to rescue him. "He hated dialysis to begin with, but he was so aggravated by the transportation," his sister, Josephine Brown of Southwest Baltimore, says.

A driver with a suspended license remained free yesterday after a head-on collision in Annapolis with a van that claimed the lives of two dialysis patients, authorities said yesterday. Jason Robert Dehn, 24, fled the scene of Saturday morning's crash but was found while hiding outside the nearby county jail, Anne Arundel police said. Police said he later failed a sobriety breath test. Dehn has not been not charged and was released pending the results of an investigation, said Lt. David Waltemeyer, a county police spokesman.