Obstetrics

Arson was blamed for a fire early yesterday that caused $210,000 in damage to a Glen Burnie building. County fire officials said the blaze was set in a medical office occupied by an obstetrics and gynecology practice. Although abortions are not performed at the obstetrics office, which gives referrals for the procedure, investigators will try to determine whether the fire was abortion-related, said Battalion Chief John M. Scholz, a Fire Department spokesman. The fire in the first-floor suites of Arundel Ob-Gyn Associates was reported just before 6 a.m. and was controlled within 30 minutes by about 25 firefighters.

For the second time this summer, a local family has been awarded a huge sum of money by a Baltimore jury after claiming that negligent care by a local hospital caused their child to be born with a disability. A jury Tuesday awarded $21 million to a Glen Burnie couple whose son was born prematurely with cerebral palsy at Harbor Hospital in 2002, and is now, at age 9, "literally trapped inside his body" with a fully functioning mind but a severely disabled body, according to a family attorney.

Dr. Claire Weitz, head of maternal/fetal health at Greater Baltimore Medical Center, jokes that the Towson hospital's new obstetrics wing is so nice, "I would have another baby just to experience it."But when the hospital -- which already delivers more babies than any other in metropolitan Baltimore -- opens the first phase of its $100 million expansion today, it's not Dr. Weitz's business it hopes to attract. It's yours and your doctor's.A year after closing its doors to newly practicing obstetricians because of a lack of space, the hospital opens its new $45 million obstetrics and acute care wing to doctors who aren't already associated with the hospital, according to President Robert P. Kowal.

Dr. John A. Engers, a retired obstetrician and gynecologist, died of cancer Oct. 19 at his Phoenix home. He was 84. Born in Baltimore and raised on 37th Street in Ednor Gardens, he attended St. James the Less School and was a 1945 graduate of Mount St. Joseph High School, where he was class valedictorian. He received a bachelor of science degree from Georgetown University and a degree from the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He was chief of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Bon Secours Hospital and was also the hospital's director of medical education.

You've soared from the Baltimore-Washington International Airport. You've been stuck in traffic jams on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. You've talked about the Baltimore-Washington corridor. Now, meet Baltimore Washington, the hospital. The Glen Burnie institution known as North Arundel Hospital changed its name yesterday to Baltimore Washington Medical Center. To go along with the broader reach indicated by the name, the hospital also unveiled plans for a $112 million expansion and said that it was seeking state permission to offer obstetrics for the first time.

Why should doctors be any different? Like the general public, physicians have differing views on the issue of abortion:An obstetrician of 40 years' standing, who remembers seeing women die after back-alley abortions, says safe abortions are a service he's glad he can provide his patients.A medical resident assigned to learn how to perform second-trimester abortions says nightmares forced her to tell her supervisors she had to be reassigned.Dr. Ben Carson, a Johns Hopkins Hospital pediatric neurosurgeon, says that "as an individual who spends a lot of time trying to maintain life, I'm not going to be particularly enthusiastic about destroying life."

With only a year left in her training as an obstetrician-gynecologist, Dr. Shahrzade Tabibi has no regrets about entering a field that some veterans say is being ravaged by the cost of malpractice insurance. "It might sound corny, but being the first person in the world to hold a little new baby is pretty incredible and a privilege I hope I deserve," said Tabibi, a fourth-year resident at the University of Maryland Medical Center. At 28, Tabibi is also a realist. With premiums for doctors who deliver babies surpassing $100,000 a year in many areas, Tabibi predicted that simple economics will force her to abandon obstetrics within a decade.

A former physician at Greater Baltimore Medical Center was found dead Sunday in her Laredo, Texas, swimming pool, a death that police are investigating as a possible homicide. Dr. Marissa Christine Keene, 40, who worked as a staff physician at the Towson hospital from 2000 to 2006, drowned, police said. Joe Baeza, a spokesman for the Laredo Police Department, said yesterday the death has not been officially ruled a homicide, but that investigators are continuing to examine her residence and backyard.

Harbor Hospital Center is spending $3.5 million to consolidate services and create more comfortable surroundings for patients at its family care building."

Dr. Harry McBrine Beck, a retired obstetrician and gynecologist who also was president of staffs at two city hospitals during a career of nearly five decades, died Friday of congestive heart failure at his home in Pinehurst. He was 79.During his nearly 50 years in the medical profession -- 40 years in private practice -- Dr. Beck was on the staffs of many hospitals.He spent seven years as the chief of obstetrics at South Baltimore General Hospital, now Harbor Hospital Center, and eight years heading Mercy Medical Center's obstetrics unit.

Dr. Edward Henderson Richardson Jr., a retired gynecologist and women's urologist who was an accomplished photographer, died Thursday of pneumonia at his home in Roland Park Place. The longtime Ruxton resident was 98. Dr. Richardson, who was the son of a gynecologist and a homemaker, was raised at 9 E. Chase St., which eventually became his office, and moved in 1925 with his family to Guilford. After graduating in 1930 from Gilman School, he earned a bachelor's degree from Princeton University in 1934.

Dr. William P. Englehart, a retired Baltimore obstetrician-gynecologist who delivered the nation's fourth "test tube baby" nearly 30 years ago, died Sept. 22 of heart failure at Oak Crest Village retirement community. The former resident of Phoenix in Baltimore County was 90. "The patients loved the ground that man walked on. They always came first. His patients and physicians who studied under him will long remember Bill Englehart," said Dr. Ronald G. Peterson, a retired obstetrician-gynecologist who had been a partner in Dr. Englehart's practice.

Vaginal birth after Cesarean section is safe for most women and more practitioners should encourage it, a panel of experts convened by the National Institutes of Health said Wednesday. While the practice should be considered on an individual basis after a woman and her provider have weighed the benefits and risks, the independent group said it hoped the medical community would eliminate barriers that many women face in seeking the procedure, commonly known as a VBAC. As the nation's C-section rate has climbed to all-time high, the VBAC rate has plunged in the past 14 years, with some doctors refusing to support the practice and hospitals, particularly in rural areas, outright forbidding it. "What we do hope is that women who are interested in having a trial of labor will have better access to safe trial of labor in a hospital," said Dr. F. Gary Cunningham, chairman of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and the panel's chairman.

Baltimore Washington Medical Center has appointed Dr. S. Patrick Donegan, M.S.H.S.A., as chairman of the hospital's new Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Donegan will head up the development of BWMC's comprehensive obstetrics program, scheduled to open in the fall. He will oversee all aspects of obstetrics and gynecology operations and work closely with physicians and administrators in creating the new program, according to the hospital. "It is a unique and incredible opportunity to build a brand new obstetrical program that incorporates high quality medical care in a personal and caring environment," Donegan said in a statement.

A former physician at Greater Baltimore Medical Center was found dead Sunday in her Laredo, Texas, swimming pool, a death that police are investigating as a possible homicide. Dr. Marissa Christine Keene, 40, who worked as a staff physician at the Towson hospital from 2000 to 2006, drowned, police said. Joe Baeza, a spokesman for the Laredo Police Department, said yesterday the death has not been officially ruled a homicide, but that investigators are continuing to examine her residence and backyard.

Mary Grace Fountain, a former obstetrical nurse and church singer, died of cardiac arrest Thursday at her Woodlawn home. She was 86. Born Mary Grace Yates in Grafton, W.Va., she moved to Baltimore and earned a degree from the University Of Maryland School of Nursing in 1940. She worked in obstetrics at the University of Maryland hospital until 1960. Mrs. Fountain, an alto, sang and performed with her husband of 49 years, William C. Fountain, a retired Veterans Administration benefits coordinator.

Vaginal birth after Cesarean section is safe for most women and more practitioners should encourage it, a panel of experts convened by the National Institutes of Health said Wednesday. While the practice should be considered on an individual basis after a woman and her provider have weighed the benefits and risks, the independent group said it hoped the medical community would eliminate barriers that many women face in seeking the procedure, commonly known as a VBAC. As the nation's C-section rate has climbed to all-time high, the VBAC rate has plunged in the past 14 years, with some doctors refusing to support the practice and hospitals, particularly in rural areas, outright forbidding it. "What we do hope is that women who are interested in having a trial of labor will have better access to safe trial of labor in a hospital," said Dr. F. Gary Cunningham, chairman of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and the panel's chairman.

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome has permanently changed the way people think about sex. Therefore, regardless of the contraceptive method a person prefers, anyone not in a mutually monogamous relationship should exercise extreme caution -- not only in choosing partners but during sex itself.Latex condoms offer good protection against sexually transmitted diseases. "But condoms reduce -- rather than negate -- the risks," says Dr. Charles Hammond, the head of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C."