Surgeon

Hernias are a common ailment among Americans; more than 4 million people develop the painful condition. And although both men and women develop hernias, female patients may be harder to diagnose. Doctors and patients may not realize the abdominal pain a woman is feeling is because of a hernia. Dr. Hien Nguyen, assistant professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said the pain can be mistaken for other conditions with similar symptoms, such as adhesions from prior surgery, endometriosis, fibroids and ovarian cysts.

Dr. Howard H. Patt, a former Baltimore surgeon and longtime Mount Washington resident, died April 25 at Sunrise of Santa Monica, a senior living community in California, of complications from a fall. He was 95. "Howard was always a very calm, relaxed and a conscientious surgeon," said Dr. Morton "Morty" Ellin, a retired Baltimore internist, and a friend and colleague of nearly 60 years. "He really felt honored to be a physician and appreciated being one. It just wasn't about making money," he said.

The chief of gynecology at Greater Baltimore Medical Center says he is one of a small number of specialists in the country -- estimated at 25 or more -- who are performing a new, less traumatic type of hysterectomy using laparoscopy technology.Dr. James H. Dorsey predicts that the technique, which removes the uterus through the vagina, will become the method of choice in the future, and that traditional hysterectomy through a 5- to 12-inch abdominal incision will rarely be necessary.Dorsey, who in the past has used a lighted tube, or laparoscope, to cut out ovaries, uterine tumors and implants of endometrium that cause infertility in women, has done 20 laparoscopic hysterectomies during the last 18 months.

It is not necessary for me to explain why the controversy over Dr. Benjamin Carson's remarks on same-sex marriage and the protests over his selection as a commencement speaker at Johns Hopkins do not represent an attack on his First Amendment rights of free speech. The Baltimore Sun , in an editorial , has already done so: "The Bill of Rights prohibits Congress (and by extension, state and local governments) from passing any law to inhibit free speech. As such, Dr. Carson is free to believe and say whatever he likes without fear that the government will take action to sanction him as a result.

Dr. Howard H. Patt, a former Baltimore surgeon and longtime Mount Washington resident, died April 25 at Sunrise of Santa Monica, a senior living community in California, of complications from a fall. He was 95. "Howard was always a very calm, relaxed and a conscientious surgeon," said Dr. Morton "Morty" Ellin, a retired Baltimore internist, and a friend and colleague of nearly 60 years. "He really felt honored to be a physician and appreciated being one. It just wasn't about making money," he said.

Dr. Daniel C.W. "D.C. " Finney, a retired Baltimore surgeon and World War II veteran, died Monday of heart failure at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson. The Lutherville resident was 88. Dr. Daniel Clarke Wharton Finney — who was known as "D.C. " — was the son of Eben Dickey Finney, an architect, and Margaret Wharton Smith Finney, a homemaker. He was also a collateral descendant of Johns Hopkins and the namesake of Dr. D.C. Wharton Smith, a Baltimore pediatrician, who were both on his maternal side.

The opera singer who eventually became Dr. Robert A. Montgomery's wife would never have taken him for a kidney transplant surgeon the first time she saw him, not with the long hair and that outrageous mustache. Maybe a biker, she figured, and maybe she was onto something there. When he heads for work at Johns Hopkins Hospital from his loft in Fells Point or the manse he shares in Bethesda with Denyce Graves, the internationally known mezzo soprano, Montgomery roars off in his 500-horsepower Shelby Cobra, painted white with a blue stripe down the center.

A federal judge dismissed Thursday a harassment lawsuit against St. Joseph Medical Center and its parent company so the plaintiff, a cardiac surgeon, can amend the complaint, which alleges that the hospital is punishing him for refusing to comply with a kickback scheme and blowing the whistle on it. Lawyers for Dr. Peter Horneffer, who filed the lawsuit in February, said they plan to submit a revised document within two weeks, correcting an error...

Dr. William Lehman Guyton, a retired surgeon, World War II combat veteran and pre-eminent collector of American silhouettes, died May 23 of pneumonia at the Broadmead retirement community in Cockeysville. He was 96. The son of a physician and a homemaker, Dr. Guyton was born and raised in Baltimore. He was a 1931 graduate of City College and a 1934 graduate of the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. He earned his medical degree in 1938 from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and completed his surgical internship and residency at the old Church Hospital in 1942, when he was commissioned in the Army.

My brother-in-law Doug needs an operation for a ruptured disc, and claims to be talking with the best orthopedic surgeon in New York."This guy does the Knicks, Giants, Jets," Doug says. "He's absolutely the best."Then there's my buddy Frank in Baltimore, who had an eye operation not long ago."Best ophthalmologist in the business," Frank says. "Same guy who fixed Sugar Ray Leonard's eye."Finally, there's my old high school friend, Steve, who informed me he was going for a knee operation next week.

There is much we don't know about Dr. Ben Carson's decision to withdraw as a commencement speaker for the Johns Hopkins schools of medicine and education. His recent comments in opposition to gay marriage, in which he compared homosexuality to pedophilia and bestiality, prompted a petition from some Hopkins students for him to be removed as a speaker. The dean of the Hopkins med school wrote a letter condemning the remarks, and Dr. Carson apologized. What happened between that series of events and his decision to step down - whether he faced additional pressure, by whom and how - will likely remain a mystery.

Aileen Riley was selected as Carroll Hospital Center's Associate of the Month for March. A staff member at the hospital for six years, Riley was nominated for her high attention to detail to her work in the food services department. "Aileen is a spectacular team player and true asset to our department. " said Marcea Cotter, director of support services in a release. "She always goes above and beyond what is expected to ensure our team succeeds. " Each month, Carroll Hospital Center recognizes a member of its staff through its Associate WOW Service Awards.

Dr. Benjamin Carson, the famed Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon , apologized Friday for his "choice of words" and use of examples in discussing gay marriage on Fox News earlier in the week. During Sean Hannity's show on Tuesday, when asked about the matter before the Supreme Court, Carson said, "Marriage is between a man and a woman. No group, be they gays, be they NAMBLA, be they people who believe in bestiality, it doesn't matter what they are. They don't get to change the definition.

Dr. Ben Carson got a tough lesson in the past week on how quickly the angry and divisive world of cable TV can chew you up. The 61-year-old Baltimore County resident has been in the media spotlight as a darling of the right since early February, when he addressed the National Prayer Breakfast with what some interpreted as a lecture to President Barack Obama. But last week, Carson's TV image and the discussion about him shifted dramatically - for the worse. He became engaged in a TV discussion on race that included back-and-forth name calling - and he offered a critique on same-sex marriage that included such extreme rhetoric that he now has Johns Hopkins colleagues calling him out and medical students petitioning to have him removed as a graduation speaker in May. Most of it played out before millions on highly partisan Fox News, where he has recently been treated like a member of the home team.

The TV remarks about gay marriage that Johns Hopkins surgeon Dr. Benjamin Carson made this week on Fox News were denounced Thursday by a faculty colleague who directs a university program on sexuality and gender. "We have been trying to have an open discussion about this issue, and obviously we support his right to free speech," Todd Shepard, co-director of the school's Program for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality, told The Sun Thursday night. "But what he said is not about opening up discussion, it's about shutting it down by scaring people.

Dr. Ben Carson says he didn't anticipate the reaction to what he considered his common-sense remarks as keynote speaker this month at the National Prayer Breakfast. But after video went viral of the trailblazing black neurosurgeon taking jabs at Barack Obama's health care overhaul a few feet from the president himself, some want the famed doctor at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore to parlay the attention into a new career: politics. "Here you have this guy who has been a celebrity minority for 30 years coming out and making the conservative case better than a lot of conservatives can," said Jonah Goldberg, editor-at-large for National Review Online.

Illinois police said they had a suspect in custody yesterday in the slaying of a suburban Chicago plastic surgeon Friday.Wilmette, Ill., Police Chief George Carpenter would not give the name of the suspect -- who was seen driving a Maryland-registered car -- or answer reporters' questions, but confirmed that a suspect was being held.Chief Carpenter said the suspect was stopped by a Skokie, Ill., police officer late Saturday. He was driving a 1968 powder blue pTC Volkswagen Beetle with Maryland license plate number ZSS499 -- the same vehicle described by witnesses as leaving the vicinity of the crime Friday afternoon.

Dr. Benjamin Carson, the eminent Johns Hopkins pediatric neurosurgeon, has received much attention over the years not only for his skills in the operating room but for what he has achieved beyond it. For many Baltimoreans, his story is a familiar one - born in Detroit, raised in poverty by a single mother, he overcame much to not only become a Medal of Freedom winner but a benefactor to thousands of young people through his scholarship program....

Dr. Clifford H. Turen, an internationally know traumatologist and former chief of orthopedics who had worked at Maryland Shock Trauma Center for two decades, was killed Jan. 13 when the private single-engine plane he was flying crashed in dense fog into trees east of Dover, Del. The Clarksville resident was 55. According to published news reports, Dr. Turen was en route from Sandersville, Ga., to Summit Airport in Middletown, Del., in his...