Emergency Physicians

Did you know?-- Drowning is the third-leading cause of accidental death in the U.S., killing nearly 5,000 people each year. - American College of Emergency Physicians

Texting while walking emerging as possible danger for pedestrians, drivers The night started out right - good friends, carousing, the lead-up to an out-of-town wedding. But between festivities, after Nicole King popped into her hotel room to change clothes and was heading back out, she wanted to text her pals to find out where to meet them. Hurrying along in the dark, punching letters into her phone, she tripped over a heavy decorative bench. "My face hit the bench on the way down," the University of Maryland Baltimore County professor says.

North Arundel Hospital Emergency Department's Assistant Director Richard T. Fields has recently become a Fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians.Fields has been on North Arundel's staff for the past nine years, becoming board-certified in emergency medicine in 1989.He is a member of the Anne Arundel County Medical Society and resides in Severna Park with his wife and two children.

The night started out right - good friends, carousing, the lead-up to an out-of-town wedding. But between festivities, after Nicole King popped into her hotel room to change clothes and was heading back out, she wanted to text her pals to find out where to meet them. Hurrying along in the dark, punching letters into her phone, she tripped over a heavy decorative bench. "My face hit the bench on the way down," the University of Maryland Baltimore County professor says. "It was bad. " It was six stiches from nose to lip bad. Big, ugly black eye bad. And yet - somehow - not quite bad enough for King to stop walking and texting.

Texting while walking emerging as possible danger for pedestrians, drivers The night started out right - good friends, carousing, the lead-up to an out-of-town wedding. But between festivities, after Nicole King popped into her hotel room to change clothes and was heading back out, she wanted to text her pals to find out where to meet them. Hurrying along in the dark, punching letters into her phone, she tripped over a heavy decorative bench. "My face hit the bench on the way down," the University of Maryland Baltimore County professor says.

Patients who are treated at Carroll County General Hospital's emergency room can expect more attention from doctors and a greater emphasis on follow-up care, now that the emergency department is under the management of a new physician group, hospital officials say.Emergency Medical Associates, a Rockville-based physician group, assumed leadership of the hospital's emergency department a month ago, replacing Professional Emergency Physicians, the hospital's provider...

The night started out right - good friends, carousing, the lead-up to an out-of-town wedding. But between festivities, after Nicole King popped into her hotel room to change clothes and was heading back out, she wanted to text her pals to find out where to meet them. Hurrying along in the dark, punching letters into her phone, she tripped over a heavy decorative bench. "My face hit the bench on the way down," the University of Maryland Baltimore County professor says. "It was bad. " It was six stiches from nose to lip bad. Big, ugly black eye bad. And yet - somehow - not quite bad enough for King to stop walking and texting.

A state disciplinary board has charged an emergency room physician at Carroll County General Hospital with illegally prescribing a painkiller to the relative of a nurse.The Maryland Board of Physician Quality Assurance alleges that the doctor prescribed the painkiller Dilaudid at the request of the nurse, who was addicted to the drug.The board filed charges Tuesday against Dr. Robert L. Gossweiler, 61, an attending physician in Carroll County General's emergency room.According to the charging papers, in December 1993 a nurse in the hospital's emergency department asked Dr. Gossweiler to prescribe a painkiller for a relative who had been diagnosed with inoperable cancer.

In response to the coverage of a new health care facility in Columbia ("Patient First to open Columbia medical center," Aug. 5), it should be noted that urgent care centers are not equal alternatives to emergency rooms. They are options for common medical problems when a physician's office is closed or unable to provide an appointment. The fact is, the vast majority people seeking emergency care need to be there. Only 8 percent of patients are non-urgent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and non-urgent "doesn't mean unnecessary" by the government's definition.

Plans must include emergency careThe Sun's Jan. 31 article, "Doctors, HMOs call truce in Annapolis," reports on an understanding between managed care plans and the state medical society of Maryland.We commend this cooperation, but the agreement language requires emergency physicians to obtain permission from managed care gatekeepers to treat subscribers who present non-life-threatening conditions.Federal law mandates that emergency departments screen and stabilize all patients regardless of ability to pay, and prohibits any delay to inquire about insurance or obtain approval from third parties.

In response to the coverage of a new health care facility in Columbia ("Patient First to open Columbia medical center," Aug. 5), it should be noted that urgent care centers are not equal alternatives to emergency rooms. They are options for common medical problems when a physician's office is closed or unable to provide an appointment. The fact is, the vast majority people seeking emergency care need to be there. Only 8 percent of patients are non-urgent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and non-urgent "doesn't mean unnecessary" by the government's definition.

Did you know?-- Drowning is the third-leading cause of accidental death in the U.S., killing nearly 5,000 people each year. - American College of Emergency Physicians

Dr. Douglas James McPhee, an emergency room physician, died of a stroke May 17 at University of Maryland Medical Center. The Ellicott City resident was 38. Born in Towson and raised in Bel Air, he was co-valedictorian of his 1985 class at C. Milton Wright High School. He earned a bachelor's degree in biology at Loyola College and was a 1993 graduate of the University of Maryland School of Medicine. After a residency at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., Dr. McPhee returned to Maryland and became an emergency room physician at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring.

Dr. Eugene J. Riley, a pioneer in emergency medicine and retired chief of the emergency room at St. Joseph Medical Center, died Friday at the hospital of acute respiratory distress. He was 82. Dr. Riley was one of six physicians who transformed St. Joseph's emergency room in 1968 by replacing the interns who ran it with experienced surgeons who gave up their private practices to work there full time. His work led to the founding of the American College of Emergency Physicians, an organization that grew from fewer than two dozen doctors to nearly 20,000 today.

Seeking to set a national standard for the definition of an "emergency," two members of Maryland's congressional delegation plan to introduce legislation that would prohibit HMOs from denying payment for emergency medical services after the fact.Such denials are a complaint across the country from emergency physicians and people insured by health maintenance organizations. And the stories are all the same: A person arrives at the emergency room, believing something may be seriously ** wrong.

Patients who are treated at Carroll County General Hospital's emergency room can expect more attention from doctors and a greater emphasis on follow-up care, now that the emergency department is under the management of a new physician group, hospital officials say.Emergency Medical Associates, a Rockville-based physician group, assumed leadership of the hospital's emergency department a month ago, replacing Professional Emergency Physicians, the hospital's provider...

Dr. Eugene J. Riley, a pioneer in emergency medicine and retired chief of the emergency room at St. Joseph Medical Center, died Friday at the hospital of acute respiratory distress. He was 82. Dr. Riley was one of six physicians who transformed St. Joseph's emergency room in 1968 by replacing the interns who ran it with experienced surgeons who gave up their private practices to work there full time. His work led to the founding of the American College of Emergency Physicians, an organization that grew from fewer than two dozen doctors to nearly 20,000 today.

Seeking to set a national standard for the definition of an "emergency," two members of Maryland's congressional delegation plan to introduce legislation that would prohibit HMOs from denying payment for emergency medical services after the fact.Such denials are a complaint across the country from emergency physicians and people insured by health maintenance organizations. And the stories are all the same: A person arrives at the emergency room, believing something may be seriously ** wrong.