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			Saturday, February 21, 2009 News Clipping Archives *Maryland / Regional* Stimulus funds save state from brutal cuts (Baltimore Sun) Doctor says earlier hospital visit might have saved toddler (Baltimore Sun) *National / International* Obama has big challenge in overhauling health care (Washington Post) Peer Portner, Heart Pioneer, Dies at 69 (New York Times) *Opinion* --- *Maryland / Regional* Stimulus funds save state from brutal cuts O'Malley says influx of federal funds to Md. will prevent layoffs of 700 workers and painful cuts to local schools By Gadi Dechter and Sara Neufeld and Baltimore Sun Saturday, February 21, 2009 Gov. Martin O'Malley announced yesterday that he has canceled plans to lay off 700 state workers and slash millions from local school budgets, saying federal stimulus funds have saved Maryland from some of the most painful belt-tightening decisions proposed in recent weeks. Under the spending bill signed by President Barack Obama this week, Maryland schools will receive more than $720 million extra through the state and $400 million directly from Washington over two years, officials said. Baltimore will see the largest increase - $84 million - next academic year over what O'Malley had initially proposed. "We will be able to make all our local school systems whole," O'Malley said, flanked by the presiding officers of the General Assembly and about a dozen more lawmakers. In recent weeks, legislators and officials from the state's poorest areas had reacted angrily to O'Malley's lean 2010 budget, which included $140 million in savings by cutting funds to schools. The biggest cuts had come from the two districts with the neediest students: Baltimore City and Prince George's County. Yesterday, those critics were singing a happier tune. "Now it looks very good for the next two years," said Del. Curtis S. Anderson, a Baltimore Democrat. But Anderson said he remained "disappointed" that those budget trims were ever on the table. "The idea of cutting education I found somewhat appalling in the first place," he said. Baltimore schools chief Andrés Alonso praised state leaders yesterday for moving faster than their counterparts in other states to protect education from the economic downturn. "The governor and the legislature moved with tremendous speed to safeguard the interest of the students of Maryland, and they deserve tremendous credit," he said. Alonso said the influx of money will free him from having to make painful cuts to schools. He still plans to downsize the central office to offset a budget shortfall resulting from a 2007 state decision to temporarily cap inflation increases to school districts. "The dollars are not going to be used to safeguard jobs," he said. "The dollars are going to be used to improve services to kids." William R. Hite Jr., interim superintendent in Prince George's County, said the additional $72 million headed to his district will prevent furloughs and an increase in first- through third-grade class sizes. "We're elated," Hite said, adding that O'Malley "took some real leadership in realizing his commitment to public education." Even with the roughly $3.8 billion in total stimulus funds funneled to Maryland, the state still faces a deficit of more than $600 million at the end of the 2011 fiscal year, according to the governor's office. And state officials said yesterday that they expect a revenue write-down of about $300 million in March. If accurate, that would mean Maryland tax revenues will have come in this year at well over $1 billion less than expected, underscoring the impact of the national recession and possibly requiring future reductions. "If things don't recover, in 18 months, we'll be back where we are and we'll be facing those cuts again," said Del. Murray D. Levy, a Charles County Democrat regarded as a budget expert in the legislature. Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, a Calvert County Democrat, yesterday commended O'Malley's "focus on education." The governor committed yesterday to maintaining a mandatory minimum 1 percent increase for every school system's budget for the next two years. And he pledged to fully fund for the first time a program that appropriates extra state education dollars to districts such as Baltimore where the cost of educating students is higher. Both categories of state aid to education had been in jeopardy under O'Malley's initial budget proposal, which gave funding increases to some wealthy counties such as Montgomery while the neediest districts were subject to the largest cuts. O'Malley had proposed asking local school districts to equally share with the state the cost of educating special-needs students who must be taught in private schools. The state currently pays for 80 percent of those costs - and O'Malley said yesterday that he would maintain that proportion for the next two years, thanks to federal funds. He is proposing a 50-50 split starting in the 2012 fiscal year. Alonso said that will give him time to create programs to keep more special-education students in public schools and negotiate better contracts with private schools. In response to O'Malley's earlier proposal for cuts, more than 20 advocacy groups in Baltimore joined together in protest and were planning a rally in Annapolis on March 3 with nearly 3,000 participants. One of the organizers, Carol Reckling, said yesterday that the groups are now considering turning the event into a celebration. "We want to thank the governor for responding to the call we made as parents, teachers and citizens," said Reckling, executive director of the Child First Authority, which runs after-school programs at a dozen city schools. "We're really excited." Another of the advocates, Bebe Verdery of the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland, praised Obama and federal lawmakers for making education such an important part of the stimulus. "The federal government has come to the rescue," she said. Besides K-12 education, O'Malley said federal funds will enable Maryland to increase funding to community colleges by more than $50 million over the next two years and restore some cuts to health, energy-assistance and public safety programs. The governor's revised budget still must be approved by the legislature and will still contain "great challenges as we move forward," said House Speaker Michael E. Busch, an Anne Arundel County Democrat. He noted that while widespread layoffs were avoided, state employees will get no raises or cost-of-living adjustments. Health advocates had hoped that a federal-funds infusion could allow Maryland to move forward with a planned expansion of Medicaid access to low-income adults with no children. "I don't think we're going to be able to do that this year," O'Malley said yesterday. Baltimore Sun reporter Julie Bykowicz contributed to this article. Copyright 2009 Baltimore Sun. Doctor says earlier hospital visit might have saved toddler Trial of emaciated boy's parents told life/death margin was hours By Mary Gail Hare Baltimore Sun Saturday, February 21, 2009 Had Andrew Patrick Griffin been taken to the hospital even a few hours earlier, doctors could likely have saved his life, a pediatrics expert testified yesterday at the Baltimore County murder trial of the toddler's parents. Doctors are able to "re-feed" children in Andrew's emaciated state and within hours to a few days stabilize their condition, said Dr. Allen R. Walker, an associate professor of pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and head of the hospital's child-protection team. "If this had been done within hours before his death, there is always a chance to alter the course," Walker said. Walker testified at length for the prosecution in Baltimore County Circuit Court on the fourth day of a trial in which Susan Griffin and her husband, John, both 39, of Rodgers Forge are accused of first-degree murder and child abuse. Prosecutors said Andrew, who was almost 3 years old at the time of his death, weighed about 13 pounds, the weight of a normal 3-month-old. He was almost as tiny. His body was severely bruised, and his internal organs were at least half the normal size for a child his age, Walker said. "All that indicates that he was denied the appropriate nutrition for life," Walker said. Walker reviewed the medical examiner's report and more than 140 autopsy photos as well as the birth, pediatric and emergency room records of the child, who died Dec. 26, 2007, at St. Joseph Hospital in Towson. Walker found no evidence of intestinal abnormality or a problem with the absorption of food. "There was no organic basis for his starvation," he said. "This was nonorganic failure to thrive." When asked if that terminology meant Andrew had not been properly fed, Walker answered, "The bottom line is yes." Although the defense pressed him, he said he could not assume that the child had eaten within a week of his death. In his review, Walker also found evidence of a brain injury, a subdural hematoma, although, he said, it was difficult to ascertain its severity or cause. Typically, such injuries in children stem from force applied to the skull, a fall or shaking, he said. When defense attorneys asked if that injury could impair the child's ability to swallow or absorb nutrition, Walker said no. Prosecutors also concluded yesterday the playing of a nine-hour digital video recording of the police interview with a pregnant Susan Griffin on the day her son died. During the interrogation, Detective Al Barton said, "Something killed him." Susan Griffin replied loudly, "No. He died from something." Barton said he has reviewed the tape several times during the investigation. "She talks very fast and changes topic very quickly," he said. She repeated many times that she wanted to be with her four other children, that she had no idea what happened to Andrew and that she never meant to harm him. She frequently alluded to a fear that her other children would have been taken away had she sought medical attention for him. "They'd remove all my kids," she said. "It looks like they're doing that anyway." Throughout the questioning, she did not ask for a lawyer. The prosecution is expected to present the remainder of its case, including testimony of the medical examiner, on Monday. Copyright 2009 Baltimore Sun. *National / International* Obama has big challenge in overhauling health care Associated Press By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar Washington Post Saturday, February 21, 2009 WASHINGTON -- Now for the hard part. Even if the national credit card is maxed out and partisanship remains the rule for Washington's political tribes, President Barack Obama and Congress are plunging ahead with a health care overhaul. This week, Obama will start the dialogue on how to increase coverage, restrain costs and improve quality. Whether a bill can get through Congress and to Obama this year is uncertain. For half a century, the track record on health care has been one of missed opportunities, spectacular failures and hard-won incremental gains. Obama plans to stress the need for major changes in his address to Congress on Tuesday, administration officials say. He quickly will follow up with a budget that includes a commitment to expand coverage for the uninsured. A White House summit on health care is being planned in coming weeks. "They don't intend to blink. They intend to plow ahead," said health economist Len Nichols of the nonpartisan New America Foundation. "Health reform is seen as essential to balancing the federal budget and economic recovery in the long run." People in the U.S. spend $2.4 trillion a year on health care, or about $7,900 per person. That's more than twice as much per capita as in other advanced countries. But few would claim those dollars are buying good value. The costs are a staggering burden for taxpayers, employers and families, and the recession is leaving more people without insurance. Yet even a self-described optimist such as Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., says he has doubts about prospects for overhauling health care. "It needs to be done up front and quickly," said Enzi, the senior Republican on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. "I'm not so sure that we haven't already lost that, with so many other things coming in and weighing us down." In the 1990s, President Bill Clinton took the better part of a year to deliver a 1,300-page health care bill to Congress and later waved his veto pen at lawmakers who might have given him half a loaf. He got nothing. Obama has shown a tendency to be more pragmatic. Administration and congressional officials say Obama will lay out a vision and see if Congress can make the details work. The Senate has gotten an early start and is shaping up as the proving ground for legislation. "The Obama administration has said they are going to give the Senate a very wide berth," said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who for years has tried to get Democrats and Republicans working together. "There are areas in which there is going to be spirited debate. But there are four or five major areas where there's a lot of common ground." Polls show most people support coverage for all and believe government should help guarantee it. But what looks like consensus starts to break down once thorny details such as costs and the government's influence on the doctor-patient relationship come into the picture. Administration officials say Obama has made a down payment by expanding coverage for children of low-income working families and by providing subsidies to help people who lose their jobs keep health benefits. As he moves forward, Obama will follow the plan laid out in his campaign. It calls for government, employers, families and individuals to keep sharing financial responsibility for health care. The approach would overhaul the health insurance market, particularly for self-employed people and small businesses. It would set up a national insurance purchasing "exchange" through which people would be guaranteed access to private health insurance or the choice of a new public plan. Obama sees coverage for all as a goal to be reached in steps. His plan would not require every individual to purchase insurance. The estimated cost is about $90 billion a year, to start with. The plan might sound simple in a brief summary, but it's not. Potential dealbreakers lurk at every turn. Many liberals can't get excited about doing battle for just a promise _ not an immediate guarantee _ of coverage for all. Conservatives and insurance companies fear that a public plan offered to workers and their families could become the gateway for Canada-style government health care for all. Employers, hospitals, doctors, and drug companies worry that the government's already pervasive influence in health care will become stifling. The initial work has fallen to the Senate, where Democratic Sens. Max Baucus of Montana and Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts want to present a bill by the summer. Baucus is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees Medicare and taxes. Kennedy, who is under treatment for brain cancer, leads the Senate health committee. He has pursued the goal of coverage for all his entire career and doesn't want this opportunity to slip away. Baucus has already outlined a plan that differs in some key details from Obama's. For example, it contemplates taxing some health insurance benefits to raise money for expanded coverage. That's an idea Obama has rejected but one that certain Republicans favor. It takes 60 votes to get a bill through the Senate, and Democrats don't have them. In the House, the effort seems to be moving more slowly. Senior aides from leadership offices and committees are talking. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, is expected to take a leading role. Some experts believe the issue is too complicated to try to accomplish in one year and one bill. Watching and waiting are people such as Robyn Perry, 56, of Lake Worth, Fla., who recently lost a job with health benefits. She has struggled to find coverage now that she is self-employed. Private plans are either too expensive or won't take her because she had a ministroke several years ago. A plan sponsored by local government accepted her, but won't cover her outside her county. "Something has to be done," said Perry. "I work. I make decent money. But I still can't get coverage. I would really like to find a normal health insurance plan that would cover me wherever I get sick, not just in Palm Beach county." On the Net: White House:http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/health_care/ © 2009 The Associated Press. Peer Portner, Heart Pioneer, Dies at 69 By Jeremy Pearce New York Times Friday, February 20, 2009 Peer M. Portner, whose revealing studies of the heart’s function led to development of the Novacor pump, an electrical device used to let seriously ill patients survive long enough for a heart transplant, died on Feb. 9 at his home in Kensington, Calif. He was 69. The cause was cancer, his family said. Dr. Portner, a nuclear physicist by training, turned his hand to biomedical engineering in the early 1970s, when he experimented with attaching a device to the left ventricles of the hearts of laboratory cows. His object was to temporarily restore a damaged heart’s pumping power without having to remove its chambers or cause a patient any deeper trauma. In 1984 the mechanism — now commonly known as a left ventricular assist device, or LVAD (pronounced EL-vad) — was implanted in a human patient in a procedure that made a later successful heart transplant possible. An electrical pump and bladder were placed inside the patient’s chest and wired to a battery on the exterior of the patient’s body. Other scientists had tested similar pumping devices that were powered by compressed air, requiring a cumbersome tube into the patient’s chest and increasing the risk of infection. The 51-year-old patient, Robert St. Laurent, underwent the implant procedure at Stanford University Hospital in California and was kept alive by the Novacor pump for eight days before it was replaced by a donor heart. The procedure, called a “bridge to transplant,” was shown to be practical, and Mr. St. Laurent lived for two decades in relatively stable health. Dr. O. H. Frazier, director of cardiovascular surgery research at the Texas Heart Institute in Houston, said the pump’s “main virtue was its durability, which showed that its engineering was very effective in giving heart patients a meaningful extension of life.” Dr. Frazier, who helped develop the HeartMate pump, made by Thoratec and now considered to be the most widely used left ventricular assist device, continued, “Peer Portner was an original investigator of a lifesaving technology who contributed to the literature and first generation of these devices.” In the 1980s, Dr. Portner was president and chief executive of the Novacor Medical Corporation, which he founded to manufacture and market the pump. The concern was taken over by the Baxter Healthcare Corporation in 1988, and Dr. Portner then became chairman of Baxter’s Novacor division. At Novacor, he helped to refine the pump and make it more portable, producing a version that enables patients to walk, bathe and even leave the hospital for extended periods. Dr. Philip E. Oyer, a professor of cardiothoracic surgery at Stanford who was the lead surgeon on the landmark implant there in 1984, said that about 1,800 of the Novacor devices had been used as bridges to transplants and in other surgical circumstances. In some cases, Dr. Oyer said, ventricular assist devices are used to wean patients from a heart-lung machine and to recover for a period of days or weeks, or to permit heart tissue to regenerate before additional surgery. Dr. Oyer collaborated with Dr. Portner on the devices. Peer Michael Portner was born in Mombasa, Kenya, on Jan. 8, 1940. He attended McGill University in Montreal and earned his doctorate in experimental nuclear physics there in 1968. After a postdoctoral fellowship in nuclear physics at Oxford, Dr. Portner joined Andros Inc., a research and development firm in Berkeley, Calif., as a senior physicist. Andros was taken over by Novacor in the 1980s. Dr. Portner was a former president of the American Society for Artificial Internal Organs. Since 1989, he had also been a consulting professor of cardiothoracic surgery at Stanford. He was a British subject. Dr. Portner is survived by his wife, Dorothy; two daughters; and three grandchildren. Copyright 2009 New York Times. *Opinion* --- BACK TO TOP


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