Obstetrics

Dr. Robert A. Abraham, a physician who directed Johns Hopkins Hospital's obstetrics anesthesia program and was a leader in childbirth safety, died of an apparent brain hemorrhage Feb. 3 at his Lutherville home. He was 79. Born in Mahanoy City, Pa., and raised in Reading, Pa., he earned his undergraduate degree in chemistry from Franklin & Marshall College and his medical degree from the University of Maryland. As part of his duties as a resident at what is now University of Maryland Medical Center, he delivered babies in West Baltimore homes.

When she became pregnant, Lisa Moren checked out Baltimore-area hospitals and liked everything she heard about Union Memorial. The hospital had a high-quality obstetrics unit, a strong nursing staff and a low rate of Caesarean deliveries, all important factors to her. "It seemed like a real family-oriented place," said Moren, 40, whose baby is due next week. But yesterday, Moren stood with a group of mothers outside Union Memorial's entrance to protest the hospital's plan to close its obstetrics unit March 25. She said the decision forced her to switch hospitals and seek a nurse-midwife who will deliver her firstborn elsewhere.

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.

Towson obstetrician Carol Ritter spent two decades delivering babies, earning a reputation as one of Baltimore's top woman doctors. Then she got sued three times in 10 months. Now Ritter is one of Maryland's most visible physician activists. Like other physicians, she has testified at hearings and spoken at rallies. But she has also become the producer and central character of a documentary. Today she plans to be in Annapolis at the special legislative session on medical malpractice reform, where she expects the final shots of the documentary to be filmed.

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.

In an effort to keep pace with Anne Arundel County's growing population, the area's two hospitals are planning multimillion-dollar expansions that will take several years and add services and space. Baltimore Washington Medical Center in Glen Burnie will begin construction on its $112 million project early next year behind the medical center's main parking garage. The expansion will include a six-story patient tower, a women's health center with obstetrics services and an expanded emergency room.

Maryland hospitals said they will need to cut jobs and patient services after a state panel voted Wednesday to keep hospital rates flat, despite a 2 percent cut in Medicare payments required by federal sequestration. "There are significant job cuts literally on the near-term horizon," Robert A. Chrencik, CEO of the University of Maryland Medical System told commissioners during a hearing before the vote. "I think folks need to be aware of that. " The 5-1 vote by the Health Services Cost Review Commission, which sets the state's hospital rates, effectively forces the hospitals to absorb the cut in Medicare reimbursement at a time when hospital margins are razor-thin.

Before Aiesha Eddins got pregnant, she didn't give much thought to her diet. "I ate whatever," said the 27-year-old Owings Mills woman. "We ordered take-out. " But when she weighed in at 220 pounds during her initial prenatal visit, she quickly earned a spot at the Johns Hopkins Hospital's Nutrition in Pregnancy Clinic, launched in December to counsel and treat obese women. The clinic has around a dozen patients but already is expanding. An estimated one in five pregnant women are obese, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an epidemic according to some doctors who have begun to buck conventional ideas about "eating for two. " They now recommend healthy diets, little or no weight gain and even bariatric surgery for obese women before they get pregnant.

Dr. Mauro V. Leo has joined Franklin Square Hospital Center as director of the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Center, which provides advanced evaluation and management of high-risk pregnancies. Leo is certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology in obstetrics and gynecology and maternal-fetal medicine. Dr. David N. Maine has joined Mercy Medical Center as director of the new Center for Interventional Pain Medicine. The center will treat a variety of conditions, including spinal stenosis, osteoarthritis and peripheral neuropathy.

* Mercy Medical Center has announced the arrival of three new OB/GYNs: Drs. Carmen L. Farrior, Angela M. Hopkins-Luna and Jennifer Preston Taylor. Farrior, a board-certified OB/GYN focusing on women's health and disease prevention, earned her medical degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, New Jersey Medical School in 1996. She completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the Albert Einstein Medical Center in 2000. Before joining Mercy, Farrior was in private practice with New Horizon Women's Care LLC. She is a fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and holds a master's of business administration from the Johns Hopkins University.