Intensive Care

THE ROLAND PARK Second Presbyterian Church looked absolutely stunning last Saturday for the wedding of Natalia Pia Melanie Sommer and Richard Matthew Dohler. Thousands of wildflowers, miles of lace ribbons and tulle, and window sills decorated with Singapore orchids set the stage for the nuptials of the daughter of pop music star Donna Summer and her first husband, Helmut Sommer,and the son of Dick and Bonna Dohler, he's an Ellicott City builder.The church was filled with the music of German trumpeteer Langston Fitzgerald and selections of Bach, Beethoven and Vivaldi, played by the church's music director Margaret Budd on the organ.

A Father's Day race benefiting the Greater Baltimore Medical Center's neonatal intensive-care unit drew more than 1,000 participants to Hunt Valley Sunday — grateful parents, preemies young and grown, supporters and some folks who just wanted to run on a beautiful morning. "This is our way to give back," said Havre de Grace resident Danielle Dabbs, 27. Her infant son Wyatt spent the first two weeks of his life in GBMC's unit, known as the NICU, after being born about a month early.

There are, says Dr. Brian Rosenfeld, about 5,500 physicians in the country specializing in intensive care -- but to staff every intensive-care unit around the clock would require about 35,000. Without enough specialists to provide round-the-clock coverage, many ICUs are staffed by "intensivists" only during the day, with nurses and residents on evening and overnight shifts. Or those in smaller hospitals don't have specialists at all, and are supervised by other doctors. "Less than half the ICU patients in this country ever interact with an intensive-care specialist," Rosenfeld said.

Long before Zach Britton was a major league baseball player, and well before the left-handed pitcher used his devastating power sinker to emerge as one of the few bright spots for the Orioles in an already-challenging 2011 season, he was a California teenager who nearly paralyzed himself running full speed into a stadium light support because he refused to stop chasing a meaningless batting-practice foul ball. The Britton family could tell countless stories about Zach's hyper-competitive nature growing up. As the youngest of three brothers, Britton grew to hate losing so much, he would occasionally storm into the house on the verge of tears, vowing to his parents that his elder siblings, Clay and Buck, would never beat him at anything again.

Dr. Elizabeth Raitz Cowboy spent a recent night making her rounds, checking on critically ill patients in intensive care. "You're looking much better today," Cowboy told a 69-year-old man with congestive heart failure, who waved a greeting and requested a snack. As the doctor promised to check his dietary restrictions, a worried nurse interrupted: A recently admitted patient was showing a welcome drop in blood pressure but a worrisome rise in heart rate. Cowboy peered at the new patient, quizzed the nurse, reviewed the medical chart, then switched the blood pressure medicine.

Two years ago, IC-USA, a startup launched by two Johns Hopkins doctors, had an intriguing idea - using telemedicine to oversee intensive-care patients - and was bringing its first customer on line. Results were dramatic: lower mortality, shorter hospital stays and cost savings for the hospital. But no other customers signed up. Now, the company has a new name, VISICU, a new chief executive and a new business model. And the customers are coming. In recent weeks, VISICU has announced deals with two high-profile clients.

LOS ANGELES -- Southern Cal basketball coach George Raveling has been moved to intensive care because of internal chest bleeding, a USC University Hospital spokeswoman said yesterday.The move was said to be precautionary.Raveling, 57, suffered nine broken ribs, a broken pelvis, a broken collarbone and a slightly collapsed lung when his vehicle was demolished Sept. 25 in a traffic accident in Los Angeles.Raveling was listed in serious but stable condition.

Loyola women's lacrosse coach Diane Aikens moved out of intensive care yesterday, one day after surgery to remove a brain tumor. The results of a biopsy are expected this weekend.A fund has been started for Aikens that will pay medical expenses not covered by insurance. Contributions can be mailed to Loyola College Athletic Department/Diane Aikens Fund, 4501 N. Charles St., Baltimore, Md., 21210.For questions relating to the fund, contact Dave Gerrity at (410) 617-2547.

A 13-year-old Taneytown bicyclist remained in serious condition yesterday after being struck by a hit-and-run driver Sunday night.Ralph E. Staub of West Baltimore Street was taken to Gettysburg Hospital before being transferred to the York Hospital intensive care unit, a York spokeswoman said.Taneytown police said the boy was riding his bike on Courtland Street when he was hit by a car traveling south on George Street about 9:10 p.m.Investigating officers later arrested a 16-year-old youth at his home and charged him with failure to remain at the scene of an accident that involved personal injury.

Visicu Inc., a company founded seven years ago by two Johns Hopkins intensive care specialists, has decided to go public after becoming profitable this year. The Baltimore company, which makes systems for remote monitoring of hospital intensive care units, filed a registration statement for an initial public offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Tuesday. The preliminary filing left key details blank, such as the number and price of shares and the timing of the IPO. Funds from the offering will be used to expand the company's business.

The first time Colin and Andrew Prazak came to the University of Maryland Medical Center, they hadn't even been born. The twins were delivered there seven weeks' premature, said their mother, Angela Prazak of Northeast Baltimore. On Sunday, they returned to the hospital for a reunion at Maryland's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, a day to share stories and celebrate overcoming the anxiety that accompanied the arrivals of the roomful of children, accompanied by their parents, some grandparents and siblings.

Maryland football coach Ralph Friedgen and a number of his players criticized the campus newspaper Tuesday for an editorial cartoon making light of the motor-scooter accident that left offensive lineman Pete DeSouza hospitalized with multiple leg fractures. The cartoon by Morgan Noonan in The Diamondback, an independent campus daily, depicts a woman addressing a player in helmet and full pads. "I didn't think there was a game today," she says. The player replies: "There isn't.

Stories of life and death told against a background of hospital gowns, fluorescent lights and the worried words of loved ones hoping for the best are nothing new to many Baltimore viewers. Hundreds of thousands tuned in when ABC News took viewers inside Johns Hopkins Hospital on its 2000 documentary series, "Hopkins 24/7," as well as a sequel in 2007. But Baltimore's Mercy Medical Center is the focus this week in a new docu-series, "NICU," premiering at 10 p.m. Thursday July 15 on the Discovery Health cable channel.

C urrent medical practice is enormously expensive, often without clear long-term benefits. A few examples: •End-of-life care at New York University averaged $105,000 per patient in the last two years of life, without evident improvement in mortality rates. Costs at other centers were nearly as high, also without evident benefits. •Studies document that providing intensive care to infants born at 22-23 weeks resulted in more than 1,700 extra days in intensive care, with fewer than 20 percent of the infants surviving - only 3 percent without profound impairment.

The Center Club was decked out in garlands, wreaths and holiday lights. Everywhere you looked, there were candy canes, Santa figurines, decorated trees and gifts galore. A holiday spirit prevailed as some 300 guests merrily greeted each other. However, it wasn't Dec. 25. It was exactly six months later, at the "St. Nick and You" party, which benefits Mercy Medical Center's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. "Every year, we do [an event that's] a play on words," explained Mercy's executive chair, Sister Helen Amos.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft was hospitalized in intensive care yesterday, suffering from a painful but treatable abdominal condition that aides said would keep him there at least several days. Ashcroft, 61, was admitted to George Washington University Hospital on Thursday evening and diagnosed with "a severe case" of gallstone pancreatitis, the Justice Department said. The condition develops when a gallstone blocks a passage leading from the pancreas to the small intestine, and the pancreas becomes inflamed.

Annapolis City Attorney Paul G. Goetzke remains in intensive care at a Virginia hospital after a diving accident in shallow water in the Potomac River on Thursday left him partially paralyzed. Surgery to fuse a fractured vertebra near the base of his neck was postponed Monday when Goetzke, 40, started having difficulty breathing, said his brother George Goetzke. Doctors at Inova Fairfax Hospital performed a tracheotomy early Monday. "He didn't have the strength to keep pushing the air with his diaphragm," George Goetzke said.