Joseph Medical

A Reisterstown woman whose mother died at St. Joseph Medical Center in 1996 sued the hospital yesterday, alleging that the treatment she received there caused her death. Debra Ann McCann alleges that her mother, Freda Mae Bradshaw, died the day after she was admitted to St. Joseph because hospital staff failed to follow treatment prescribed by her physician Dr. Robert Baxt. The suit was filed in Baltimore County Circuit Court. Bradshaw, 77, of Reisterstown was suffering from a bowel obstruction, was vomiting and had abdominal pains and nausea when she was admitted at 2 p.m. July 12, 1996, according to Jay Miller, McCann's lawyer.

A Towson cardiologist and his former employer disputed claims during a civil trial Tuesday made by 21 plaintiffs who allege that the doctor performed unnecessary stent procedures to treat heart patients. Dr. Mark Midei, St. Joseph Medical Center and Catholic Health Initiatives are being sued in Baltimore County Circuit Court by former patients of Midei, who claim that the doctor completed an excessive number of the procedures and that the hospital failed to provide any oversight, leaving the patients with lasting medical complications.

St. Joseph Medical Center named John K. Tolmie its new president and chief executive officer yesterday. Tolmie is president and chief executive officer of the St. Joseph Regional Health Network, a two-hospital system in Pennsylvania. He starts work at the Towson hospital Jan. 8. He will be replacing James J. Cullen, who came to St. Joseph two years ago and resigned this month. Yesterday, Cullen declined to discuss his reasons for resigning, saying, "That's past." Carmen Deyesu, chairman of the St. Joseph board of directors, said of Cullen, "He had to decide if this environment was best for his abilities, and both sides came to the same conclusion."

The University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center failed a critical federal inspection and has been unable to collect what is likely millions of dollars in Medicare reimbursements from the federal government since Dec. 1. As part of its takeover of the troubled St. Joseph that day, the University of Maryland voluntarily gave up a certification needed to bill Medicare and applied for a new one. The university health system wanted to disassociate itself...

Sister Magdalen Joseph Drury, a member of the Sisters of St. Francis and retired hospital administrator, died of a stroke Feb. 7 at Assisi House, her order's retirement home in Aston, Pa. She was 91. Born Nona Magdalen Drury in Baltimore, she was a graduate of the old St. Anthony of Padua Commercial School. She professed her vows in 1939 after entering the order. She was an elementary school teacher from 1939 to 1941 at the old St. Paul's Parochial School in East Baltimore, and from 1944 to 1945 at St. Thomas Parochial School.

Officials at St. Joseph Medical Center are continuing to ask patients not to drink tap water or take showers as the Towson hospital began treating its water system yesterday to wipe out any remnant of the bacteria that cause Legionnaires' disease. Elevated levels of the Legionella bacteria were discovered early last week in the hospital's hot-water supply during a test, after a patient complained of mild symptoms after being discharged. Health officials have yet to determine whether the patient - whose name was not released - came in contact with the bacteria at the hospital or elsewhere.

Tony Davis is homeless, jobless, doesn't have a doctor, doesn't have medical insurance, but he does have ailments that could use a physician's touch. Despite his circumstances, Davis is fortunate. He's getting the medical attention he needs and from an unlikely source -- a full-fledged primary care doctor's office on wheels that visits two Baltimore homeless shelters each week. Davis, with bloodshot eyes, raspy voice and toothy smile, strolls into the huge white mobile home parked outside the Franciscan Center in Charles Village and looks for nurse practitioner Bill Gough, whom he has seen almost exclusively since first using the vehicle for medical care in May 2001.

Mary K. Darling, a longtime St. Joseph Medical Center volunteer who established the patient library at the Towson hospital, died May 5 of complications from dementia and a fractured hip at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. She was 90. Mary Kochen, the daughter of Austrian immigrant parents, was born at home in Dundalk's Colgate Creek neighborhood. She was a graduate of St. Wenceslaus Parochial School and St. Michael's Business School. During the Depression, Mrs. Darling worked as a food packer at the old Crosse & Blackwell plant on Eastern Avenue, and later was a billing clerk at the old Montgomery Ward catalog store on Monroe Street.

John Prout, president and chief executive officer of St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson, said yesterday that he is leaving to assume a similar position at a three-hospital system in Ohio.The announcement comes as St. Joseph is holding talks regarding possible alliances with Greater Baltimore Medical Center and Upper Chesapeake Health System.Prout's decision to leave is "independent of any partnering discussion," said Linda Harder, director of marketing and public relations at St. Joseph.

Sister Edward Thomas Griffin, a member of the Sisters of St. Francis whose nursing and pastoral career at St. Joseph Medical Center spanned five decades, died of heart failure Friday at her order's retirement home in Aston, Pa. She was 89. Julia Lucy Griffin was born and raised in Moycullen, County Cork, Ireland. In 1935, she entered the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia and professed her vows in 1938. Sister Edward Thomas began working in 1938 at the old St. Joseph Hospital on Caroline Street and graduated in 1943 from its nursing school.

St. Joseph Medical Center officially became part of the University of Maryland Medical System this past weekend, and it's difficult not to see this development as a victory for all involved. The hospital had been rocked by a malpractice scandal — and hundreds of lawsuits — involving unnecessary surgeries conducted by its cardiology department, and the new ownership would seem to give the institution and its employees a fresh start. For several years, St. Joseph has been operating under a cloud left behind by Dr. Mark Midei and the stent procedures of questionable merit.

The University of Maryland Medical System expects to complete its acquisition of St. Joseph Medical Center Friday nearly a year after the Towson hospital sought a buyer as it looked to bounce back from the fallout of accusations that one of its doctors performing unnecessary cardiac procedures. Signs will be erected Saturday at the new entity, to be called The University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center. The 2,000-employee hospital suffered revenue, patient and staff losses after its star cardiologist, Dr. Mark Midei, was accused of placing stents in the arteries of hundreds of patients who may not have needed them.

The man tapped Thursday as the CEO of the newly created University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center is known for his work in oncology, but for the last few years has been working toward a career on the administrative side of the hospital business. Radiation oncologist Dr. Mohan Suntha will take over as president and CEO of the Towson hospital Dec. 1, when the University of Maryland Medical System is expected to complete its acquisition of St. Joseph Medical Center from Denver-based Catholic Health Initiatives.

A Towson law firm has accused eight more doctors of playing a role in implanting unnecessary heart stents in patients at St. Joseph Medical Center, where cardiologist Dr. Mark Midei was accused of performing the procedure in hundreds of patients who didn't need them. The law firm of Kenny & Vettori filed claims on behalf of 39 patients this month with Maryland's Health Care Alternative Dispute Resolution Office, which arbitrates malpractice cases. The claims are the latest in a string of legal actions against the embattled cardiologist and hospital.

Dr. John Joseph Krejci, a retired general surgeon who helped plan St. Joseph Medical Center's move to Towson, died at that hospital Monday after suffering an aneurysm. He was 89 and lived in Stoneleigh. Born on Milton Avenue, he attended St. Michael the Archangel School. In 1936, in a citywide oratorical contest on communism, he won a half-scholarship to Loyola High School, from which he graduated in 1941. He also played varsity ice hockey and tennis. While at his Loyola High senior prom, he met his future wife, Madelyn V. Krespach.

A Baltimore County Circuit Court judge dismissed Monday a defamation lawsuit filed by Dr. Mark Midei against St. Joseph Medical Center, barring the embattled cardiologist from seeking damages against his former hospital in the scandal over unnecessary heart stent procedures he's been accused of performing. The opinion by Judge Mickey Norman was not available, but electronic court records show that Midei's case was dismissed. Lawyers for Midei, St. Joseph and its corporate parent, Denver-based Catholic Health Initiatives, all declined to comment until they had read the ruling.

St. Joseph Medical Centertook another step in choosing a buyer for its Towson campus. The hospital said the board made a recommendation Monday to the parent company, Catholic Health Initiatives, which has the final say. Officials declined to identify the board's choice. But the three finalists were LifeBridge Health, which owns Sinai and Northwest hospitals; Ascension Health, which owns St. Agnes Hospital; and the University of Maryland Medical System. St. Agnes is the only Catholic hospital among the bidders, but St. Joseph's said all three systems agreed to honor its "Catholic identity and religious heritage.