Construction worries voiced at neighboring Mass. General
Construction blasting soon will begin across the street from Massachusetts General Hospital's operating rooms, and some surgeons are worried about the vibrations. Equity Residential Properties Trust, based in Chicago, will undertake a controversial, 2 1/2-year project to add five new apartment buildings and an underground garage to the downtown enclave known as Charles River Park. To construct the garage, the group must blast through rock, much of which sits across Blossom Street from hospital operating rooms and radiology equipment. Surgeons are worried that the vibrations and noise will cause their equipment to shake during delicate operations.
Dr. Jean Elrick, Mass. General's enior vice president of administration, met with several hundred physicians recently and assured them that the hospital is working with Equity to reduce disruptions. The company plans to blast twice a day, at noon and 4 p.m., work that will last seconds, she said. The company claims that inside the hospital the blasting noise will be the equivalent of a ''door slammed across the room," Elrick said. But just in case, Equity will conduct a test blast on a Sunday, and the hospital will station employees inside the operating rooms and watch the impact on medical equipment. Based on that, Elrick said, Mass. General will decide whether to shift surgery schedules.
House budget slashes geriatrician training
Training of healthcare workers to better treat the elderly took a big hit last week as the House cut $31.5 million for geriatric education nationally for the next fiscal year. The cut, if approved by the Senate over the next few days, will force the closing of the Harvard Partners Geriatric Center, which trains thousands of health professionals throughout New England in the special problems of the elderly, according to the director, Sue Levkoff.
It will also reduce the number of fellowships to train geriatricians, physicians who specialize in treating older people. The Boston University program, which sent graduates to medically underserved areas, will be reduced from 11 fellowships for doctors, dentists, and psychiatrists to three. And the Harvard University program, which trains 11 geriatricians a year, will also have to cut back.
''Who gets hurt by this? The elderly," said Dr. Sharon Levine, who heads BU's program.
Senator Edward M. Kennedy opposes the cuts, calling them shortsighted at a time when the elderly population is booming. The cuts, he said in an e-mailed statement, ''will move us backward in securing the health and quality of life for seniors in Massachusetts and around the country."
ALICE DEMBNER
Newton-Wellesley doctors fight back against husband
Two doctors have decided to fight back against a man who is suing them for malpractice and mailing thousands of brochures to homes across Middlesex County, criticizing care they provided to his late wife, Charlotte, at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in 1997. Lawyers for the doctors, Paul Satwicz and Susan Arnold-Aldea, filed an emergency injunction in Suffolk Superior Court earlier this month asking the court to order Mark Petrie to stop mailing the brochures.
The brochure directs readers to a website that asks viewers if they ''have had any issues" with Satwicz, who was the attending anesthesiologist during the birth of the couple's daughter, or with Arnold-Aldea, who was the attending obstetrician. Charlotte Petrie died shortly after giving birth. The doctors' attorneys also want the trial, scheduled for May, moved outside of metropolitan Boston to make sure jurors haven't received the mailing.
''It's incredibly prejudicial," said David Gould, an attorney for Satwicz.
An emergency hearing was held late on Friday, and Gould said he expects to hear from the judge in the next few days.
