Pediatrician

Dr. Harold Seymour Farfel, a pediatrician, died yesterday of pancreatic cancer at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care in Towson. He was 82. A doctor who prided himself on making house calls, Dr. Farfel continued until his recent illness to attend pediatric rounds at Sinai Hospital, where he was a resident from 1950 to 1952. One of the patients at his practice in Catonsville, which he opened in 1955, was a boy who would grow up to be governor, Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., said Dr. Farfel's son, Dr. Mark Farfel of New York City.

Dr. M. Larrie Blue, a retired Baltimore pediatrician whose career spanned more than 40 years, died Monday of pancreatic cancer at Sinai Hospital. He was 77 and had lived in Stevenson. "It was fitting that he died at Sinai Hospital, where he spent most of his professional career," said his wife of eight years, the former Sima Rosenthal. Dr. Blue was born in Baltimore and raised in the city's Pimlico neighborhood. He was a 1948 graduate of City College and earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland in 1952.

The American Medical Association is expected today to name Dr. Catherine D. DeAngelis, vice dean at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, as editor of its prestigious medical journal, according to sources knowledgeable about the appointment.DeAngelis, a pediatrician who is known as a staunch advocate for women in medicine, declined to comment last night on reports of her appointment to the top post at the Journal of the American Medical Association. The AMA is planning to make an announcement at an afternoon news conference in New York.

Dr. Michael Zollicoffer speaks a mile a minute, works a mile a minute and shops a mile a minute. The exuberant 41-year-old pediatrician may live on a faster frequency than the rest of us, but he doesn't mind taking one of those minutes to discuss his wardrobe, which threatens to spill out of his Baltimore home.His several California-ized closets can't contain 400 caps, hundreds of sweaters and a complete array of clothing stamped with his med school alma mater, the University of North Carolina.

Kenneth W. Blakeslee Sr., 92, Western Electric managerKenneth Worthen Blakeslee Sr., a retired Western Electric Co. manager, died June 30 of heart failure at Union Memorial Hospital. He was 92 and lived in Original Northwood.He joined the benefits department at Western Electric's Point Breeze plant in 1929 and retired in 1971 as a section manager.Born on 20th Street and raised in Homeland, Mr. Blakeslee was a 1925 graduate of the Friends School and received a bachelor's degree in political science from the Johns Hopkins University in 1929.

Dr. Samuel S. Glick, a pediatrician who treated thousands of children during his 60-year practice, died of a stroke Saturday at Sinai Hospital. The Baltimore resident was 98.Dr. Glick also trained hundreds of medical students and doctors at the University of Maryland Medical School, where he taught for 40 years and was an associate professor of pediatrics."He was the grandfather of primary care pediatricians," said Dr. Murray Kappelman, a professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at the UM medical school.

River Hill's Karla and Krista Killian will never room together in college."They could never do that," said their mother, Pam."Definitely not," Karla said.And why not?"She's too neat," said Krista.And Krista's too sloppy?"I'm not that messy, I'm just a little less organized," Krista said. "I still know where everything is."Sisters. Twin sisters at that."They get along very well," said their father, George. "Except when they're getting dressed in the morning."You had to bring that up."She comes into my room and steals my clothes," Karla said.

Gus smiles so much his family wonders why his cheeks aren't sore. And nothing makes him happier than reading - except maybe spotting a truck full of new cars - a sight that will cause him to squeal in delight.Spend time with this loveable 21-month-old Guatemalan native, and you can understand the anger his parents felt the day the federal government decided he didn't merit the medical tests doctors considered vital."It was just such an outrage," said Fran Bloksberg-Fireovid of Riderwood, his mother.

Dr. Raymond Leopold Clemmens, a retired pediatrician, died Friday of a heart attack at his Towson home. He was 76.Dr. Clemmens was director of the Central Evaluation Clinic for Children at the Walter P. Carter Center in Baltimore from 1958 to 1984, and professor of pediatrics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine from 1954 until his retirement in 1985.He was renowned in the fields of atypical child development, hyperactivity and behavioral and learning problems in childhood, and was the co-author of "Behavioral Pediatrics and Child Development."

Harvey Rapp, a psychologist in private practice in Columbia, answers a question frequently asked by concerned parents.My 9-year-old has trouble keeping track of his things and finishing his work. The teachers say he is always out of his seat and disrupting other children or asking for help. At home, he complains about doing his homework, and we get into arguments. I want to help him take responsibility, but it seems as if I am always punishing him or he is being ridiculed in school. Could some of his problems be related to academic difficulties?

Dr. Davood Badie, a Harford County pediatrician, died Monday at his Bel Air home from complications of cardiovascular disease and Parkinson's disease. He was 79. Dr. Badie, the son of a farm owner, was born and raised in Mazandaran Province, Iran. He earned his medical degree from the University of Tehran in 1955 and moved to England five years later. In 1961, he immigrated to Baltimore. Dr. Badie completed a rotating internship at Maryland General Hospital in 1962 and a residency in pediatrics at what is now the University of Maryland Medical Center two years later.

David Josephs, a retired pediatrician who practiced in suburban Baltimore for nearly 50 years, died of cancer July 18 at his Pikesville home. He was 84. "He dispensed wisdom not found in medical books," said Rabbi Mitchell Wohlberg of the Beth Tfiloh Congregation. "He was old school, a straight arrow who always walked on the proper path. He healed his children in body and soul." Born in Sanford, N.C., he earned degrees at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and at the Medical College of Virginia.

I was sitting on an examining table, waiting to meet the new doctor my insurance company had assigned me to, when she blew in the door, offered her hand and shook mine energetically. Then the new doc sat down on a chair in the corner of the room, put her feet up on the seat of another chair and clasped her hands behind her head like somebody who planned to be there for a while. "Tell me about your life," she said, and suddenly a routine physical became a cross between a job interview and a high school reunion.

Breaking up is hard to do, especially when you're considering parting ways with your pediatrician. I asked Owings Mills pediatrician Dr. Daniel Levy, who's answered a number of our Consults, to give us some things to think about when the relationship isn't working. Here's his reply: "Most parents go to some trouble finding the 'right doctor' for their child, but as hard as they try, sometimes things just don't work out. "There are lots of reasons why families switch the care of their kids to new pediatric practices in a community, but courtesy and humanity in going through the process will help tremendously.

CKisMom wanted advice on nighttime potty training for her 3 1/2 -year-old, who uses the bathroom by himself during the day but still needs a pull-up at night. He doesn't drink much before bed and uses the bathroom before lights out, but isn't staying dry. Dr. Katherine Hopkins, a pediatrician with Box Hill Pediatrics in Abingdon, says it's common for kids to wet the bed until they're as old as 7. "If there is a family history of bedwetting, then a later age for night-time control is common," she wrote.

Capsules by Michael Sragow. Full reviews are at baltimoresun.com/movies. Boy A : *** ( 3 STARS)This film centers on a young man released from prison after a lengthy term for an atrocity committed when he was a child. Andrew Garfield pulls off a death-defying act of imagination in the role. With a new name and a made-up past, this profoundly troubled character manages to get a job and fall in love. His case worker (Peter Mullan) views him as his "greatest accomplishment." Our antihero is not so sure.

Capsules by Michael Sragow. Full reviews are at baltimoresun.com/movies. American Teen: **** This documentary about a handful of high school seniors in Warsaw, Ind., shows how even teens who superficially fit the labels of jock and geek have inner lives and outer ambitions that break up any stereotypes. The movie has the sureness and nuance of a tiptop novel. PG-13 95 minutes Elegy: *** An aging critic and academic (Ben Kingsley) sees an intoxicatingly beautiful student (Penelope Cruz)

Dr. Josette W. Bianchine, a retired Johns Hopkins pediatrician who worked in genetics, died of congestive heart failure June 6 at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda. She was 79. Born Josette Woel in Gonaive, Haiti, she studied at l'Ecole LaLue and came to the United States on a scholarship to the University of Illinois at Urbana, where she earned a biology degree. She was a 1958 graduate of State University of New York Upstate Medical University at Syracuse. She did an internship and residency in pediatrics and then served as chief resident at the Harriet Lane program at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

On Sunday, May 18, 2008, RADHA NAIR PATHAK, M.D., beloved wife, mother, sister, aunt, pediatrician and friend passed away peacefully. Those whom she touched with her indomitable spirit will miss her sorely. Funeral was held Monday, May 19, 2008. Donations in her name may be made to CHAI www.chaicounselors.org

When he was just 28 and a pediatrician-in-training, Dr. Joshua Sharfstein made headlines by helping write a report linking poor housing conditions to children's health. More recently, he made news with another fight on behalf of children's health when he led a group of pediatricians opposed to giving common cold medicines to infants and toddlers. Sharfstein, 38, a pediatrician who grew up in Montgomery County and spent summers in Baltimore with his grandparents, has been the city's health commissioner for two years.