Maryland Medical Center

Looking toward the opening of its nine-story Homer Gudelsky Tower, the University of Maryland Medical Center has agreed to purchase $10 million in radiation equipment that will upgrade the speed and precision of treatments given to cancer patients.One new system will provide a three-dimensional view of a tumor, allowing doctors to tailor the delivery of radiation beams to the unique shape and size of each tumor they seek to kill.Another new system permits doctors to view the tumor and surrounding tissue as the radiation is delivered.

Three young girls died early today from burns and smoke inhalation after fired destroyed the North Monroe Street rowhouse in which they were sleeping.A fourth girl was listed in critical condition at the University of Maryland Medical Center.Two adults, believed to be the parents, were in serious condition after suffering burns, injuries and smoke inhalation.Fire Department spokesman Capt. Hector Torres said the cause of the fire was not known, but it probably had smoldered a long time before erupting.

A scandal over the employee referral bonus program at University of Maryland Medical Center widened yesterday when federal prosecutors announced that three more employees had been charged with pocketing funds. A federal grand jury indicted Paula Anderson, 39; her mother, Carlet Clemons, 59; and Michael Venable, 31, all of Baltimore, in a $1.5 million scheme to defraud the university. The indictment was returned yesterday and unsealed today upon the arrest of the defendants. All three appeared in U.S. District Court yesterday.

The University of Maryland Medical Center last night dedicated the Joseph and Corinne Schwartz Stroke and Brain Injury Center at Kernan Hospital to honor a $1 million gift from the Schwartzes.A local developer, Joseph Schwartz was treated at Kernan during his rehabilitation from a stroke three years ago.Longtime Lutherville residents, the Schwartzes now divide their time between Ocean City and Palm Beach, Fla.The Schwartzes became interested in the William Donald Schaefer Rehabilitation Center during its planning phase.

A Baltimore Circuit Court jury has awarded $1.1 million to the estate and family of a 45-year-old Johns Hopkins University employee who died of a cerebral aneurysm two years ago after being wrongly diagnosed as having a sinus headache. The six-person jury found Dr. Gunta Alberts Wheeler liable late Monday afternoon for the damages, but not Union Memorial Hospital, where the doctor worked. Lawyers for Jane Tierney, the mother of Nancy J. Tierney, argued that the doctor should have recognized signs of an aneurysm and given her daughter a brain scan, which would have revealed the bleeding, according to attorney Philip C. Federico.

A Baltimore jury awarded $3.5 million yesterday to the family of a man who is alleged to have died from a bacterial infection at University of Maryland Medical Center, according to the plaintiff's lawyers. Angel Mendoza, 26, was admitted to the hospital Sept. 22, 2002, with a blood disorder, his family's lawyer said. He died a week later from another infection contracted in the hospital and never discovered by doctors, according to attorney Peter Rubin. The trial lasted eight days, and the jury deliberated two hours before reaching a verdict yesterday.

University of Maryland Medicine will invest $5 million in Doctors Health System, the state's largest independent physician group, as part of an affiliation plan announced in April.The two entities announced the investment yesterday, along with the signing of a 10-year working agreement.With its $5 million, University of Maryland Medicine buys the stock held by Medical Mutual Liability Insurance Society of Maryland, a malpractice insurer that was an early investor in Doctors Health.University of Maryland Medicine consists of the medical school and health system -- a large general hospital, rehabilitation facilities and community clinics.

A struggle between a campus police officer and a theft suspect at the University of Maryland, Baltimore ended yesterday when the suspect was shot in the leg, school officials said.University spokesman Chris Hart said veteran Officer Artice Johnson, 40, saw a man breaking the window of a car parked in the 500 block of W. Lombard St. about 6: 22 p.m. The man fled, Johnson gave chase and caught him a short distance away on Paca Street near Cider Alley.The two men struggled, Hart said, and Johnson's gun discharged, wounding the man. Johnson was not hurt.

A 31-year-old employee who was shot in the back Tuesday night as he tried to flee during an armed robbery at a Pennsylvania Avenue carryout died Tuesday afternoon at the University of Maryland Medical Center, police said.The victim, Brian Anthony Harrod, was a part-time employee at the Sub Shack near his home in the 1500 block of Pennsylvania Ave.Police said two robbers burst into the store when the owner opened the front door to take out trash. Mr. Harrod and another employee were behind an enclosed partition when one of the intruders grabbed a customer and held a gun to the customer's head.

Linda Victoria Mathis, a Baltimore attorney, died of a heart attack Thursday at University of Maryland Medical Center after collapsing at the Charles Center Metro station. The Reisterstown resident was 54. Born in Baltimore and raised on Mosher Street, she was a 1966 graduate of Edmondson High School. Ms. Mathis earned a degree in education at Coppin State College, where she was president of her junior class. Family members said that as child she enjoyed watching the Perry Mason television show and resolved to earn a law degree, a goal she reached in 1973 at Howard University.