Dialysis

Acquisitions Phillips Edison & Co., a retail real estate management and development company, purchased Powell Villa, a community shopping center in Portland, Ore. Awards Imre Communications was named Best in Show in the Public Relations Society of America's Best in Maryland competition for its work for Travelers Insurance. Community Health Charities presented Donald P. McPherson III, an attorney with DLA Piper Rudnick, with the 2007 Joseph Forni Award, and Jan Thompson, president of the Maryland chapter of the Arthritis Foundation, was named Volunteer of the Year.

For severely ill people who are near death, dialysis treatment to replace the blood-cleaning function of kidneys appears to be an extraordinarily expensive procedure that does little to extend life, according to a new study.The study, led by a doctor at Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, found dialysis and related care cost on average $128,200 for each year of life it gained patients, more than twice a common -- but not universally accepted -- medical cost-effectiveness standard of $50,000 per year.

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.

LOOK at health-care reform through a philosopher's eyes.What if the task of genuine health reform involves not only the way we finance it, but the way we think about it? And while we're at it, the way we think about the self, the soul, the human body and its diseases? What if the entrenched interests in this domain stretch back some 350 years? It's enough to give one a headache. But let me explain.President Clinton's proposals primarily seek to change the way in which health care is insured, distributed and financed.

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.

A Baltimore man who jumped bail more than 10 years ago after being charged with killing a New York drug dealer by pumping six bullets into him was arrested by the FBI yesterday as he underwent kidney dialysis at a clinic in the Seton Industrial Park.Milton Anthony Barksdale, 37, is accused of the Dec. 18, 1981, contract murder of Freddie Lee Dixon, 22, described by police as a heroin dealer from New York trying to establish himself in Baltimore's Murphy Homes high-rise public housing project.

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.

While a stream of doctors and nurses swirled around her hospital bedThursday, 14-year-old Melanie Boore longed for one thing -- homework.Lots of it, especially math and science -- anything other than being stranded in a hospital bed and connected to an IV for days on end.A longing for schoolwork is unusual in the typical 14-year-old. But then Melanie, a Westminster resident and East Middle School eighth-grader, is far from typical.On Monday, Melanie, who has been hampered by kidney problems since birth, received a healthy kidney that was taken from her father, Michael.

Dagmar M. Maszun died after a heart attack Sunday at Francis Scott Key Medical Center. She was 39 and lived in Woodlawn.Mrs. Maszun 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.A mass of Christian burial for Mrs. Maszun will be offered at 10:30 a.m. Friday at St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, 5502 York Road.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.

George Smith, 71, one of the longest surviving kidney-dialysis patients at the University of Maryland Medical Center, died March 2 at the hospital after a long illness.Funeral services for Mr. Smith were held March 7 at the Cornerstone Church of Christ, 4200 Park Heights Ave.Mr. Smith, who lived in West Baltimore, was employed by the Barton Cement Co. for 40 years until his retirement in 1975.He had been a kidney-dialysis patient at University for 15 years, and was remembered by staff members there for his courage, patience and willingness to assist other dialysis patients.

When 10-year-old Sean Menard's battle with kidney disease took a turn for the worse, his former kindergarten teacher's aide offered him one of her kidneys. When it turned out she was not a good match, her husband volunteered. His act of kindness not only enabled Sean to get the kidney he desperately needed, but it became a vital link in a chain of four donors who would give their healthy kidneys to four people in need of new organs. The University of Maryland Medical Center announced the series of donations Tuesday, which marked its first kidney exchange.

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.

Police and firefighter funerals are turning into the topic that just won't go away. After two columns on the issue of the traffic tie-ups that accompany the motorcades honoring fallen public safety workers, it seemed time to change the subject. Then Cassie Beatty called. Having heard mostly from individuals who endured the inconvenience of being stuck in traffic but suffered no long-term harm, I came down on the side of police officers and firefighters in saying their traditions of mourning deserve the public's patience.

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.

An Anne Arundel County man who was drunk and high on drugs when he caused a crash that killed three dialysis patients was sentenced yesterday to five years in prison, amid emotional pleas from the victims' families for a more substantial punishment. Judge Paul A. Hackner sentenced Fontaine Pridgett, 47, of Cape St. Claire to 15 years in prison with all but five years suspended and five years of supervised probation - a slightly harsher sentence than prosecutors had requested for the three counts of homicide by motor vehicle while intoxicated.

Acquisitions Phillips Edison & Co., a retail real estate management and development company, purchased Powell Villa, a community shopping center in Portland, Ore. Awards Imre Communications was named Best in Show in the Public Relations Society of America's Best in Maryland competition for its work for Travelers Insurance. Community Health Charities presented Donald P. McPherson III, an attorney with DLA Piper Rudnick, with the 2007 Joseph Forni Award, and Jan Thompson, president of the Maryland chapter of the Arthritis Foundation, was named Volunteer of the Year.

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.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush signed into law yesterday the last major piece of legislation approved by the outgoing Congress - including a $100 million-a-year boost in the Medicare reimbursement rates for dialysis providers who proved to be heavy-spending lobbyists and generous contributors to important legislators, notably House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas of California. The dialysis providers were among many special interests benefiting from a piece of legislation that was designed to simply extend existing tax cuts and credits but ended up as a bill freighted with billions of dollars in new spending earmarks for everyone from the coal industry to Brooks Brothers.

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.

Maryland: Biotechnology GenVec gets grant to develop vaccine GenVec Inc. announced yesterday that the U.S. Agriculture Department has contributed $1.7 million to help the Gaithersburg biopharmaceutical company develop a vaccine thought to prevent the spread of foot-and-mouth disease, an infection that affects cloven-hooved animals, such as cows. Tricia Bishop MedImmune moves to shield executives MedImmune Inc. of Gaithersburg, which some analysts describe as a prime takeover target, has for the second time in two months taken action to protect executives should the biotechnology company be acquired.