Here is a story about a boy aged 5.

His parents bought him a moped ( you remember those). One day he was riding the moped in an alley behind his house. He did not wear a helmet. He sped out the alley without looking and was hit by a car. He suffered brain damage and a broken leg( broke mid way of his thigh.) The brain surgeon did surgery to relieve the pressure. His condition was too critical to allow the fixture of the leg.

He was unconscience before and after surgery. The doctors said that the child would not live due to the extent of his brain damage. His father would come for a visit and just stood there shaking his head. His mom would just dry silently. We kept the child restrained with loose restraints. He would thrash around in the bed. His leg was in traction and he fought it and you could see the bone wanting to come thru the skin. On about the 4 th day of admission the child slipped into heaven.

After the family came in to say their good byes, the brain surgeon came in and pulled up a chair to the bedside. He sat there for a long time. He cried because the child had so much living that he needed to do and he could not save him. He was one of the few compassionate doctors that I have ever known. It is not the site of the injured child that stays in my mind. It is of a doctor who loved his patients.