University Hospital

Almost 1,000 doctors responding to a survey by U.S. News & World Report ranked Johns Hopkins Hospital among the best in the nation for 13 of 15 specialties -- earning it the magazine's designation as the best hospital overall.In earning that distinction, Johns Hopkins edged out three other hospitals with wide reputations for excellence: the Mayo Clinic of Rochester, Minn.; Massachusetts General Hospital of Boston, and the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.Rounding out the top 10 were: Cleveland Clinic; Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston; Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York; Duke University Hospital in Durham, N.C.; Stanford University Hospital in California; and University of California, San Francisco.

Slayings' suspect John Frederick Thanos has been taken off a life-support system and is listed in satisfactory condition at University Hospital following a May 7 suicide attempt at the Maryland Correctional Adjustment Center.Joyce Tarrant, a spokeswoman for University Hospital, said Thanos is improving after being on a respirator for two days."He really has no injuries," Tarrant said, adding that neurological exams showed there is no permanent brain damage.Thanos, 41, was hospitalized after correctional officers found him unconscious in his cell.

JOHNS HOPKINS may be Baltimore's internationally acclaimed hospital, but its cross-town rival, University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), is becoming the hospital with the best statewide network. This week's acquisition of North Arundel Hospital continues that trend. The 329-bed North Arundel, in Glen Burnie, is a thriving general hospital that serves a growing middle-income suburb south of the city. But North Arundel lacks the medical firepower University can deliver as its partner.

SHAYNE HOLZMAN is on her way home.The 3-month-old baby, born four months prematurely to a California couple who was visiting here, was to leave Baltimore this morning via air ambulance for Santa Monica (Calif.) Hospital. Born July 16 at University of Maryland Hospital, Shayne weighed 1 pound 5 ounces at birth. She's now 2 pounds 12 ounces, and could be the smallest baby to be flown across country, according to speculation by the local hospital staff.The couple, Allan Holzman and Susan Justin, and their 3-year-old daughter, Justine, have been staying in Baltimore since the baby was born.

Johns Hopkins Hospital in East Baltimore, the century-old institution where medical pioneers introduced such contributions as CPR, use of X-rays and dozens of other critical breakthroughs, ranks first in a listing of the 10 most prestigious hospitals in the United States, according to the Aug. 5 issue of U.S. News & World Report.Hopkins was selected in a nationwide survey of nearly 1,000 doctors who ranked the institution near the top in 13 of 15 medical specialties.Hopkins was ranked best in the country for ophthalmology and urology.

A three-car accident Wednesday on Interstate 97 near Millersville left three people seriously injured, including a pregnant woman whose baby was delivered later by Caesarean section at Shock Trauma Center at University Hospital in Baltimore.The 7:41 a.m. accident closed southbound I-97 for nearly three hours, causing a massive rush-hour traffic jam. Police say the three cars were destroyed, with one overturning and another splitting in half.Police say that Linda Cooke Pittelli, 35, of the unit block Wilelinor Drive in Edgewater was driving a 1986 Nissan 300ZX north on I-97when she crossed a grass median and struck a 1991 Chevy Blazer.

Dr. Hans Joachim Koetter, a physician who specialized in family medicine, died of complications from a stroke Monday at Union Memorial Hospital. He was 77. Dr. Koetter was born in Frankfurt, Germany, and was raised in Dresden. During World War II, he was conscripted into the German army and served as an infantryman on the Eastern front, where he was wounded. After the war, he attended the University of Frankfurt Medical School, where he earned his medical degree in 1951. He completed internships at the 97th U.S. Army Hospital and University Hospital, both in Frankfurt.

Dr. Morton I. Rapoport, who took over a financially troubled University of Maryland Hospital 20 years ago and oversaw its transformation into the thriving six-hospital University of Maryland Medical System, announced yesterday that he will retire as president and chief executive officer in June 2004. "I think it's time," said Rapoport, 67. When Rapoport took over what was then University Hospital in 1982, it was part of the University of Maryland and was running deficits of several million dollars a year.

A 64-year-old Baltimore veteran is facing more than $20,000 in hospital bills after hip surgery at the Mercy Medical Center because the VA hospital on Loch Raven Boulevard shut down its non-emergency orthopedic service temporarily and said it could not admit him."It's like you got to University Hospital and there's a sign on the door that says, 'Come back in a week,' and you're hovering around in a helicopter. It's unheard of," says Dr. Kenneth R. Lippman, the veteran's surgeon at Mercy.The veteran, whose bill would have been paid by the Veterans Administration had the operation been performed at the Loch Raven Hospital, has declined to be interviewed or allow his name to be used.

Project director named for Home Care ChallengeDr. Hermine Saunders recently joined the Carroll Community College staff as the project director for Home Care Challenge, a national workplace literacy grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Education.The grant is for home health aides and companions employed by the college's four health care business partners, Carroll Hospice, First Call, Home Call and Tri-Home Health Care and Services.Dr. Saunders has opened a self-paced learning center two afternoons a week at the college annex at 300 S. Center St. She has written an integrated curriculum that includes reading NTC fluency, writing and communication skills.