I was pulling another 10-hour shift during my pediatric residency at
a children's hospital in North Philadelphia when the ED glass doors slid open
and a police officer carried in a bruised and bloody 4-year-old wrapped in
a blanket. The two looked like the characters in the old Boys Town Christmas
seal: "He ain't heavy, he's my brother." The boy was rigid and silent, and
his dark eyes turned to me in dazed apprehension. In some places his straight,
black hair stood up, and in others it was matted with blood.