Obstetricians

Thaddeus L. Montgomery, 98, emeritus professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Jefferson Medical College and a leader in the effort to make child-birth more natural and more of a family affair, died Wednesday at Dunwoody Village, a retirement community in Newtown Square. "He was a leader in physiological obstretics," said his son, J. Thomas Montgomery. He described that as "letting nature take its course" during the a baby's birth. "I would think he would be the real role model for obstetricians in this century," said his friend and business partner, Paul A. Bowers.

Edward Lockart McConnell Jr., 79, of Wynnewood, a retired obstetrician and gynecologist, died Monday at Lankenau Hospital of complications from surgery for an aneurysm. Dr. McConnell maintained a practice in South Philadelphia for more than 50 years, and was an attending obstetrician and gynecologist at Thomas Jefferson University and Methodist Hospitals in Philadelphia. In 1987, he attained the title of clinical associate professor at Jefferson Medical College, and was appointed to honorary status there in 1989.

Marcel Stanley Sussman, 85, of Bryn Mawr, an obstetrician and gynecologist for more than 50 years, died Wednesday at Paoli Memorial Hospital. Dr. Sussman maintained a private practice in Center City and was clinical associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital from 1946 until retiring in 1978. He was then named professor emeritus at Jefferson Medical College. For many years, he also served as president of the board of governors of the former Doctors Hospital in Philadelphia, where he also was chief of obstetrics and gynecology.

One of the documents Rep. Stephen F. Freind used Tuesday to support his pregnancy-rape theory cited a World War II Nazi study on pregnancy and stress. Yesterday, the president of the state affiliate of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said Freind's use of the study was "inappropriate. " Freind (R., Delaware) did not mention the study at a news conference Tuesday, but he repeatedly used as a source for his information Dr. Fred E. Mecklenburg, who cited the study in an article.

IN THE FAST LANE With the start of the peak summer driving season just weeks away, James Eagan isn't recommending that you speed. But the former New York state trooper, who's written A Speeder's Guide to Avoiding Tickets, believes that those who are going to speed "should use common sense about it. " Among his suggestions: Remove your Grateful Dead bumper sticker and any empty beer cans cluttering up your car. Avoid political stickers; the...

After 11 years of private practice, after more than 1,800 deliveries, Dr. Kenneth Lakoff threw in the towel in June and quit the baby business. Granted, the long hours and the countless nights on call had taken a toll on him, he said. But there was a far more compelling factor that drove Lakoff to give up the profession that had required 12 years of study and training to attain. In the end, it was the strain from the ever-looming threat of being sued for malpractice that convinced Lakoff that he would be better off abandoning medicine and launching a new career in a health-related field.

Ending a six-month hiatus, a Coatesville clinic that cares for poor women during pregnancy will begin accepting new patients next month. Brandywine Hospital and Trauma Center's prenatal clinic stopped accepting new patients in February, causing public health officials to worry that there would be an increase in problem births and infant deaths in the Coatesville area. Sharon Hipkins, of the Chester County Health Department, said she was thrilled to learn the weekly clinic would again accept new patients.

KILLING TIME. Most of us spend about five years of our lives standing in lines and six months waiting at stoplights. According to a nationwide study by Michael Fortino, a time-management expert, the average person spends one year searching for misplaced objects, eight months opening junk mail, and two years trying to return telephone calls to people who never seem to be in. "Most people don't realize how much time they're wasting," Fortino said....

A majority of women are able to deliver their babies vaginally after an earlier caesarean section, and an overwhelming number of obstetricians - particularly younger ones - are encouraging them to do so. Those are findings of a new survey of the 29,000-member American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), the medical society representing the vast majority of doctors delivering babies in America. The survey, released yesterday, found that the old medical rule of "once a C-section, always a C-section" appears on the way out. Decades ago, when caesarean births were done with a vertical incision running the length of a woman's abdomen, subsequent births were almost always caesareans as well, done out of fear that the earlier incision's scar tissue would rupture during labor, threatening mother and child.

Since the early '80s, women who had a baby by caesarean section routinely have been encouraged to attempt a vaginal delivery with their next child. But two new studies and an editorial in the nation's most widely read obstetrics-gynecology journal today raised new warnings about the practice, cautioning that such vaginal deliveries can occasionally lead to a catastrophic rupture of a woman's uterus or even the death of her infant. The June issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology reports on studies of 20 women who suffered uterine ruptures during labor at hospitals in Salt Lake City and Denver between 1982 and 1989.

Charles A. Ritchie, 87, of Drexel Hill, an obstetrician who delivered hundreds of babies and enjoyed being reminded of that when they grew up, died Saturday, March 9, of an infection at Bryn Mawr Hospital. Dr. Ritchie was well-known in Philadelphia and Delaware County for his longtime practice of obstetrics and gynecology. In 2002, he was honored for 50 years of distinguished service by the Pennsylvania Medical Society and Delaware County Medical Society. He had staff privileges at St. Vincent's Hospital in Southwest Philadelphia, Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital in Darby Borough, and Delaware County Memorial Hospital in Drexel Hill.

David M. Goodner, 68, formerly of Chestnut Hill, an obstetrician and gynecologist for more than 30 years, died Wednesday, Jan. 25, of Alzheimer's disease at Arden Court in Cherry Hill. Dr. Goodner practiced with Professional Health Care for Women in Center City. He was on the staff of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and Pennsylvania Hospital. During his career, he delivered 5,000 babies to mothers who often traveled long distances to receive his care, his daughter, Alyson, said.

Terry M. German, 72, of Upper Gwynedd, an obstetrician-gynecologist at Albert Einstein Medical Center for 35 years, died of acute respiratory distress syndrome Monday at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. German delivered more than 3,000 babies, taught at Temple University School of Medicine, was medical director for Blue Cross, wrote clever lyrics and acted in plays and, for years, organized an enormous Seder dinner for more than 170 family members. The first night of Passover was special for Dr. German and generations of relatives.

RICKI LAKE is ticked off at doctors and she's firing back. Lake, whose film "The Business of Being Born" is a documentary about maternity care, and who's shown in the film giving birth in her apartment, is mad that physicians groups have singled her out for bringing attention to at-home childbirth. The former talk-show host was named in a recent statement by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, saying that the home is not the safest setting for having a baby.

Oliver S. Thresher, 81, of Chatham, Chester County, a retired obstetrician and gynecologist, died of leukemia May 14 at Christiana Hospital in Newark, Del. Dr. Thresher maintained an office at Frankford Hospital in Philadelphia for 45 years until he retired in 1996. He was affiliated with Frankford, Rolling Hills, Jeanes, and Northeastern Hospitals and St. Mary Medical Center. His daughter Sally said Dr. Thresher had a large practice. "He was on call every other night," she said.

For Main Line obstetrician Nancy Roberts, the best thing about belonging to a big physicians practice isn't choosing her own staff or picking her benefits, it's stepping back into the delivery room. About three years ago, the high-risk pregnancy specialist gave up deliveries at Lankenau Hospital, partly because of high malpractice costs of $118,000 a year, she said. But as a member of a new private mega-practice, Roberts can start delivering babies again this month - at about half the cost of her old insurance.

Daniel J. McCarron, 90, of Media, an obstetrician and gynecologist who delivered thousands of babies in his 60-year career, died of heart failure Dec. 8 at Lankenau Hospital. "He loved giving life to others," his daughter, Mimi Byrne, said. She said her father delivered babies - including his grandchildren - into his 80s. "He would come home from his vacation to deliver your baby because he promised you he would," she said. Dr. McCarron was on the staffs of Riddle Memorial Hospital and Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital and had an office in Upper Darby.

Dr. Burton L. Wellenbach, 84, of Haverford, an emeritus professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Thomas Jefferson University who helped bring new life into the world for more than 40 years, died of complications of an infection Wednesday at Bryn Mawr Hospital. "Everywhere I go," his daughter-in-law Tricia Wellenbach said, "if women hear my last name, they come up to me and tell me that my father-in-law had delivered them, or their children, or their grandchildren. " Sometimes, she said, he delivered all three generations.

A major report on the causes of cerebral palsy is renewing debate over how often, and how much, a physician is to blame when a baby is born with the disorder. The 95-page document, issued by two leading physicians groups, concludes that cerebral palsy is rarely caused by lack of oxygen, or asphyxia, during labor and delivery. It also sets out nine criteria for judging whether a child's disability is due to asphyxia, and whether it occurred during birth. Trial lawyers have denounced the report as self-serving and dangerous.

For 22 years, obstetrician Joel P. Lebed spent every holiday worrying about who's having a baby. But no more. That's because he spent Memorial Day weekend on the telephone, calling more than 100 pregnant patients, disappointing one after the other by telling them he would not be able to deliver their babies. "I cried . . . I got hysterical," Tabatha Miller said. "When you are pregnant, especially when it is your first, you count on this person and he becomes an important part of your life.