Orthopedic Surgeon

John Milton McIntyre, a retired orthopedic surgeon whose operations allowed patients to regain the use of their hands, died Tuesday of pancreatic cancer at his home in the northern section of Roland Park. He was 67. He was born in Cumberland and raised in Westernport, where his father was owner and general manager of the McIntyre Bakery. He spent his summers on Deep Creek Lake, where his family had a cottage. After graduating as valedictorian of Bruce High School in 1960, he earned a degree in chemistry at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Dr. James Burch Brooks, a retired orthopedic surgeon who spent his more than four-decade career with the Four East Madison Orthopedic Association, died Sunday of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at Union Memorial Hospital. The Cross Keys resident was 85. "He was extremely capable and humble, and he was well liked by his patients and all of those who worked around him," said Dr. Charles E. "Chick" Silberstein, a longtime friend and Baltimore orthopedic surgeon. "His patients just adored him. " The son of insurance executives, Dr. Brooks was born in Baltimore and raised in Forest Park.

Dr. Jack Cely Childers Jr., a retired pioneering Baltimore orthopedic surgeon, died April 29 of cardiac arrest at St. Joseph Medical Center. He was 72. Dr. Childers was born and raised in Lexington, N.C., where he graduated in 1956 from Lexington Senior High School. After graduating from Princeton University in 1960, he enrolled at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and during his third year of medical school decided to go into orthopedics. He graduated in 1964.

Dr. Kenneth F. Spence Jr., a highly regarded Baltimore orthopedic surgeon who was a Vietnam War veteran, died Monday of leukemia at Hooper House Hospice in Forest Hill. The former longtime Columbia resident was 79. The son of a civil engineer and a homemaker, Dr. Spence was born and raised in Hagerstown, where he was a 1949 graduate of Hagerstown High School. After graduating from Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va., in 1953, he enrolled at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, where he earned a medical degree in 1957.

Eugene Willis, a Howard County orthopedic surgeon, died of heart disease Tuesday at his Ellicott City home. He was 67. Born in Newport News, Va., and raised in Westminster and on the grounds of Fort Meade, he was a 1960 Arundel High School graduate. He earned a degree at Western Maryland College, now McDaniel College, where he played baseball and was a fraternity president. He earned a medical degree at the University of Maryland, served in the Army and did his orthopedic internship at Georgetown University Hospital and a residency at Kernan Hospital.

Dr. E. David Weinberg, a retired orthopedic surgeon, died yesterday of heart failure at Roland Park Place, where he had lived for about three years.Private services were planned for Dr. Weinberg, who was 95 and had lived in Pikesville for more than 40 years.He was in private practice from 1927 until his retirement in 1975 and was chief of staff from 1958 until 1965 at what is now the Harbor Hospital Center. He was chief of orthopedic surgery at the hospital and a member of its board until about four months ago.He was an assistant professor of orthopedic surgery at Johns Hopkins University medical school.

Dr. William Preisz Horton, an orthopedic surgeon who was a co-founder of Orthopaedic Associates in Towson and an early student of joint replacement surgery, died of chronic anemia Wednesday at his home in the Murray Hill section of Baltimore County. He was 81. Dr. Horton was born in Big Bend, Ore., the son of a pharmacist, and raised in Portland, Ore. He earned his bachelor's degree in science in 1943 from Reed College there. During World War II, he joined the Navy and attended the V-12 program - which provided accelerated officer training - at the University of Oregon Medical School, earning his medical degree in 1946.

Dr. Thomas Edward Gillespie, a hand and orthopedic surgeon on the faculty of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, died of cancer Sunday at his Millersville home. He was 65. Born in Hazleton, Pa., he earned a bachelor of science degree from Bucknell University. He was a graduate of the Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington and served in the Navy during the Vietnam War aboard the hospital ship Repose and the submarine Kamehameha. He left the military as a lieutenant commander.

As a physician who has devoted 25 years to caring for patients in our great state, I was deeply distressed to read Jay Hancock's column attacking the integrity of orthopedic surgeons and other doctors who rely on modern tools such as MRI and CT scans to diagnose patients' injuries and illnesses ( "Orthopedist-owned MRIs a recipe for soaring costs," Feb. 9). Mr. Hancock's claim that orthopedic surgeons drive MRI utilization and cost is contradicted by federal government data showing that more than 80 percent of all advanced imaging services paid by Medicare go to radiologists and free-standing radiology centers, not to orthopedic surgeons and other treating physicians.

The Baltimore Ravens trailed the visiting team by 4 points, the third quarter was ticking down, and as Joe Flacco lobbed a pass to the end zone, 71,220 anxious fans followed its flight through the sky. For the moment, Leigh Ann Curl was one of them. From the sideline, she saw the ball on the fingertips of a streaking Ravens receiver, giving Baltimore the lead in the late October game against Buffalo. Then something else caught her eye: One of her prize patients, Todd Heap, lay prone on the M&T Bank Stadium turf.

Dr. Michael S. Murphy has developed an unusual way to ensure proper postoperative care for patients he won't see for several months. The orthopedic surgeon, who travels twice a year to the Dominican Republican to treat its neediest people for free, writes his follow-up instructions with indelible ink in Spanish on their casts. He keeps in touch by phone and e-mail with the Dominican hospital staff. Those patients who need attention before he returns "just show their casts to the local doctors," Murphy said.

As running back Ray Rice recovers from a bruised knee that could keep him from playing Sunday in Pittsburgh, medical experts say it will take one thing before Rice is back to his previous form — time. Rice, who missed a scheduled appearance with Baltimore Mayor Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake Tuesday at the Inner Harbor as part of a health campaign, said via Twitter that he hopes to return "asap," and a source close to Rice said Tuesday that the injury "is not that bad. He's walking around like his regular self.

The Johns Hopkins doctor who was shot on the job in the hospital Thursday by a patient's son is a well-liked and well-respected surgeon — who is known for entertaining his colleagues by performing magic tricks — according to those who work with him. Police officials said the doctor was expected to survive a gunshot wound to the abdomen. Coworkers identified him as David B. Cohen, a 45-year-old orthopedic and spinal surgeon on Hopkins' staff for more than a dozen years.