Union Memorial Hospital

Union Memorial Hospital and the chief of its cardiac catheterization lab have been sued by a woman who claims that she unnecessarily had stents placed in her arteries, and that her recurring chest pains were later diagnosed as stemming from a stomach ailment. The lawsuit was filed last week in Baltimore City Circuit Court by A. Donald C. Discepolo and Andrew J. Toland III on behalf of Martha J. Phillips of Baltimore. In addition to the hospital, Dr. John C. Wang, now the cardiac catheterization lab chief there, was also sued.

Super Bowl commercials are nearly as anticipated as the game, and local companies grabbing some of that attention Sunday included Royal Farms and Union Memorial Hospital. Advertisers know the Super Bowl is one of the best-watched programs of the year — and they're willing to pay for the opportunity, as much as $4 million this year for a 30-second spot. For area advertisers, it's arguably an even better opportunity when the local team is playing. "It's a chance to reach well over a million of their clients or customers," says Jay Newman, president of WJZ. "There's no event that will air on television that will come close to the numbers the Super Bowl will reach.

Loretta M. Light could not resist the chance to help someone. She couldn't pass up a shot to make others laugh. The opportunity to brighten a day was simply irresistible.A volunteer at Union Memorial Hospital and past president of its women's auxiliary, Mrs. Light, 71, died of cancer Wednesday at Good Samaritan Hospital. She had been doing her volunteer work as recently as two weeks ago. "She was always smiling and always wanting to help people," said Helen Szymkowiak, a fellow volunteer at Union Memorial.

Ravens outside linebacker injured his Achilles tendon during a workout last week and is expected to miss most - if not all - of the 2012 season. Suggs, the 2011 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, is scheduled to see a foot specialist in North Carolina next week to determine the extent of the injury. Dr. Lew Schon, the chief of foot and ankle surgery at Union Memorial Hospital, discussed, in general terms, what the surgery and recovery from such an injury entails. How serious is a torn Achilles tendon for an NFL player?

Union Memorial Hospital officials say they may have as many as 100 job openings for workers who face unemployment as nearby fiscally strapped Homewood Hospital Center prepares to shut down.Nearly 100 people responded in the first day to ads in Friday's newspapers announcing the job offers, hospital officials said. More than 25 people had called by midday today responding to ads that ran over the weekend.Half of the openings are for nurses, but many of the slots are in technical and general areas of the hospital.

A man suspected of stalking a patient at Union Memorial Hospital was shot outside the medical facility Wednesday night by two members of a warrant task force who were staking out the institution after learning he was inside, according to a police spokesman. The man's name was not released; he was being treated at a different hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. Anthony Guglielmi, the spokesman, said a warrant was issued in mid-January charging the man with attempted murder after he stabbed a person outside a Royal Farm store in the 1000 block of W. 36th St. in Hampden.

Margaret Jane Wall, a registered nurse who had been assistant director of nursing at Union Memorial Hospital for two decades, died Sunday of lung cancer at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. The Baldwin resident was 77. Margaret Jane Shelton was born and raised in Moores Springs, N.C., and graduated in 1947 from Nancy Reynolds High School, where she was a star player on the girls basketball team. She earned her nursing degree in 1951 from the old City Memorial Hospital, now known as Forsyth Medical Center, in Winston-Salem, N.C. After she married Hugh B. Wall Sr., a Westinghouse Electric Corp.

George E. Best, a retired Baltimore chemist, died of cancer Thursday at Union Memorial Hospital. He was 77 and lived in the 4400 block of Wickford Road.Memorial services for Mr. Best will be held at 2 p.m. tomorrow at the Second Presbyterian Church, 4300 St. Paul St.Mr. Best retired in 1978 as senior vice president of the Manufacturing Chemists Association in Washington, where he had worked for 20 years.From 1948 to 1959, he was manager of technical services for Mutual Chemical Co. of America in Baltimore, a chromium processing plant that was bought by Allied Chemical Co.In retirement, he was active as a volunteer for the blood bank at Union Memorial Hospital and with the Baltimore Radio Reading Service.

Seven people were sent to area hospitals today after the collision of a Mass Transit Administration bus and a car at Cathedral and Preston streets near Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.Fire Department spokesman Capt. Patrick P. Flynn said four city ambulances were used to transport the injured. One victim was taken to the Shock-Trauma Unit in Baltimore; another to University of Maryland Medical Center; three to Maryland General Hospital; and two to Union Memorial Hospital.

An article in yesterday's Maryland section about Union Memorial Hospital seeking to put a helipad on its roof should have said that the access road to its current helipad at Lake Montebello can still be used. However, because hospital officials must make advance arrangements to have the road opened, they say its use is limited in emergencies.

Maryland hospitals are buying more food locally, according to a new analysis. Forty hospitals in Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Northern Virginia are now purchasing locally grown fruits and vegetables regularly during the growing season and nine are consistently purchasing meat or poultry produced by local farmers who use sustainable agricultural practices, according to Maryland Hospitals for a Healthy Environment. “Incorporating more local and sustainable foods requires a modification of the traditional purchasing practices of hospitals,” said Louise Mitchell, the organization's sustainable foods program manager.“Leading hospitals in this region deserve a lot of credit for their persistence, determination and strategic thinking on how to make it work.” The hospitals spent nearly $30,000 on local foods in one week during the Buy Local Challenge last July, twice the amount purchased during the same week in 2010 and translating to at least $60,000 of positive impact on the local economy.  Highest purchases for the week included Union Hospital of Cecil County at $5,482, Meritus Medical Center at $2,187 and Civista Medical Center at $1,841.

It wasn't long after Dr. James Higgins became chief of the Curtis National Hand Center at Union Memorial Hospital last January that he answered a call from Operation Smile, the Norfolk-based humanitarian group that provides free surgery for needy children with facial deformities. He already knew Dr. Randy Sherman, the group's chief medical officer. Sherman was a visiting professor at a school where Higgins studied. But this conversation would prove more life changing for him – and dozens of people in Nepal.

Union Memorial Hospital and the chief of its cardiac catheterization lab have been sued by a woman who claims that she unnecessarily had stents placed in her arteries, and that her recurring chest pains were later diagnosed as stemming from a stomach ailment. The lawsuit was filed last week in Baltimore City Circuit Court by A. Donald C. Discepolo and Andrew J. Toland III on behalf of Martha J. Phillips of Baltimore. In addition to the hospital, Dr. John C. Wang, now the cardiac catheterization lab chief there, was also sued.

Dr. McRae Whitaker Williams, a retired physician and former administrator at Union Memorial Hospital, died Tuesday at home. Dr. Williams' family did not request an autopsy to determine the cause of death. The longtime Owings Mills resident was 75. "He was [a] role model and mentor for many of us and had a direct grace that was truly remarkable. He spent most of his professional life at Union Memorial, as first physician, then executive, and [then] physician again," said Dr. Stuart B. Bell, vice president of medical affairs for Union Memorial, in an email last week to colleagues.

There is more to training for a marathon than running a few laps around the track. Finishing 26.2 miles, or even getting to the starting line, takes attention to some details about eating and hydrating, miles covered, and aches and pains. Dr. John Senatore, avid runner and chief of podiatry in Union Memorial Hospital's sports medicine department, talks about what to do — and what not to do — as next week's Baltimore Running Festival approaches. What should runners, particularly first-time marathoners, do in the last week before the race so they feel good on race day?

A man died Sunday after he was found in a car, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, in an alley less than a block from Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore. Baltimore police were called to the 300 block of East 33 r d Street around 6:30 a.m. Sunday and discovered the victim — then still alive — in an alley behind the neatly kept rowhouses there. Police did not identify him but said he was in his 20s and had been seriously injured. The man died later at Johns Hopkins Hospital, police spokesman Detective Jeremy Silbert said.

Lorenz E. Jefferson: A memorial service for Lorenz E. Jefferson, who co-owned a canvas awning business, will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Loyola College Chapel, 4501 N. Charles St. Mr. Jefferson, who was 91 and lived in Towson, died Aug. 18 at Union Memorial Hospital.

A photo caption in The Sun Business section on Sept. incorrectly stated the date for a groundbreaking ceremony for a $28 million addition to Union Memorial Hospital. It is Sept. 20 at 10 a.m.The Sun regrets the errors.

In a broad effort to speed treatment of heart attack victims in Baltimore, five area hospitals are distributing hand-held devices to every paramedic unit in the city that can transmit patients' heart rhythms, or EKGs, to the hospital before they arrive. Doctors have 90 minutes to open an artery after someone shows symptoms of a serious heart attack before survival becomes far less assured. The hand-held units, which can send information straight to a cardiologist's smart phone, could speed up that treatment by as much as 15 minutes, research shows.

Gangster Al Capone's departing gift to Baltimore was heavily damaged in this weekend's blizzard. A 70-year-old weeping cherry tree, which the legendary mobster gave Union Memorial Hospital after he was treated there for syphilis, split in two Saturday, causing a major limb to fall to the ground. Each April, the East 33rd Street tree sends out cascades of pink blossoms. "I can't care if Capone was infamous or just famous, that tree he gave us was like a still-life fireworks display," said Stephen Alexander, a woodworker who spotted the tree damage as he walked his dog. "And I wonder what's going to happen to all that nice cherry wood."