Intensive Care

25 Years Ago (Week of Oct. 5-11, 1969):* The 100-member Howard County School Custodians Association reviewed a proposal to affiliate itself with a labor union. The proposal was presented by the Service Employees International Union, AFL-CIO.* It was announced that Columbia area residents could continue to enroll in the Columbia Medical Plan through Oct. 31 without being required to provide evidence of insurability. The prepaid program would provide total coverage at no additional cost for in-hospital surgical, medical and intensive care.

Three teen-agers have now been arrested and charged with attempted murder in the shooting of 4-year-old Quantae Johnson in his family's dining room, police said.The latest arrests came just after 7 a.m. today when city police took into custody two brothers, Antoine Lamont Vine, 18, of the 2100 block of Orleans St., and Richard Vine, 16, of the 200 block of N. Castle St.On Wednesday, 16-year-old Alfonso Jones, of the first block of Skipjack Court in Essex, was arrested at his home and charged as an adult with attempted murder in the shooting.

* ON THE MEND: U.S. skier Kristin Krone, who broke a knuckle on her left hand in a dramatic accident earlier this week, will miss tomorrow's downhill.Krone, from Truckee, Calif., tried to work out today but said she was unable to properly hold a ski pole."It didn't work out this morning with the hand," said Krone, who also sprained both knees in the high-speed fall that ended in a safety fence. "There were other body parts that didn't work well. It just wasn't worth it."Krone said she felt fine immediately after the Wednesday accident, but has felt progressively worse the past three days.

Riding an improving market for new stocks and investor interest in medical technology advances, Visicu Inc. began life as a public company yesterday with the year's second-most-successful debut, rising 54.9 percent from its opening price. Shares in the initial public offering were priced at $16, leaped to more than $25 in the first 10 minutes of trading, then leveled off to close at $24.78. The offering raised $100 million for the Baltimore company, which develops remote monitoring systems for intensive care units.

LaMont Flanagan is living a life of crime and loving it.As head honcho of the city's jail since August 1991, Mr. Flanagan's life revolves around criminals and the penal institution he was hired to improve."

A standard procedure used more than a million times a year on seriously ill patients in this country offers no benefit and may kill some people, according to a new study that is causing consternation among many doctors.For 25 years, doctors working in the high-technology world of intensive care units have relied on the procedure to diagnose, monitor and treat very sick patients, like those experiencing heart, lung or multi-organ failure.The procedure involves inserting a thin tube into the heart through a neck vein to collect data to guide minute-to-minute therapeutic decisions.

WEATHER: Windy, with gusts up to 50 mph and wind chills in the 20s. TRAFFIC: Check our traffic updates for this morning's issues. TOP NEWS More wintry weather in forecast amid bout of slush : Winter waited until the busy holiday season to arrive, and it isn't letting up yet. After a second bout of icy precipitation Wednesday, more snow, sleet or freezing rain is possible over the weekend. Sexual abuse claims mount against voice of Elmo : Puppeteer Kevin Clash has rejected accusations that he had an inappropriate relationship with any of four men who've come forward since last month, including the three who have filed lawsuits.

Too often, the tiniest victims of the drug scourge go unnoticed in the mayhem of crime, punishment and shattered lives. They are the premature, developmentally challenged and, in some cases, stillborn children born to women who have lost the war against chemical dependency.A welcome bright spot in this depressing scenario is the early success of the Center for Addiction and Pregnancy at the Francis Scott Key Medical Center. The overwhelming majority of the program's first graduates -- 48 babies since May -- were born hale and healthy.

Visicu Inc., the Baltimore company that develops remote monitoring systems for hospital intensive-care units, expects to raise at least $65 million in an initial stock offering that could value the company for as much as $400 million. Visicu is planning to sell 6 million new shares at $11 to $13 a share, according to an amended prospectus filed yesterday. An additional 900,000 shares could be sold if demand is high. Current shareholders - executives and early investors - would continue to hold 23.9 million shares, or about 80 percent of the company, the filing said.

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.