Free Ghost Child by Caroline Overington

therefore a linear skull fracture: in other words, a simple break along the lines of the bones that form the skull. It occurs when a child is hit with a rock or a ball. Such injuries are not normally serious. Bed rest may be all that is required.
    A depressed skull fracture is more serious. It occurs when the force is more significant, and it means what it says: the trauma results in a dent in the skull bone, often to the thickness of the bone itself. This type of fracture may be associated with a brain injury – in particular, an intracranial haemorrhage, or bleeding of the brain – and this is very serious indeed.
    When a patient with a head injury arrives at the Children’s Hospital, a simple X-ray will normally be ordered, to detect any fractures to the skull. To detect a brain injury, we need a computed axial tomography , more commonly known as the CAT scan, where a series of photographs of the brain are taken from many angles and then reassembled, by computer program, to make a three-dimensional image. An intracranial probe, or ICP, may also be used. This instrument measures the pressure caused by swelling of the brain tissue, a common side-effect of brain injury. On the other hand, we might try an electroencephalogram, or EEG, which will measure electrical impulses produced by the brain to ascertain how it is working.
    For Jacob, I ordered all three tests: CAT scan, EEG,and ICP, and the results were not encouraging. In short, there were few signs that his brain was actually working as it should. I operated within the hour, to drain some fluid from it, but I was not hopeful of a recovery. Indeed, I had no doubt that Jacob was lost to us.
    Jacob’s mother had travelled to the hospital in the ambulance and rested in the waiting room while her boy was in the operating room on a ventilator. She was given permission to see Jacob briefly in intensive care. By then Jacob had the appearance of a child who was deeply asleep: his chest rose and fell, and his skin was pink. I suggested to Lisa that she go home, get some rest and return early the next morning for what I imagined would be a difficult discussion.
    I left the hospital at midnight. The following morning, while still in my kitchen, I skimmed through coverage of Jacob’s injuries in The Sun . I noted that Jacob’s mother was claiming that her son had been set upon by a person unknown. I made no comment about that to my wife – she had peppered me with questions while I prepared her orange juice and porridge – but I had my own point of view. Upon arrival at the hospital, nursing staff had stripped Jacob’s clothing from his body. I’d run my hand lightly over his limbs and his collarbone, and formed the conclusion that somebody had tortured this boy before. There were signs of damage – bumps and breaks – that had been left to heal, probably without medical attention.
    I returned to the hospital at the normal time, around 8 a.m., and checked on Jacob. I recall now how moved I’d been by the quiet dignity of his small body. Jacob was the marvel that is a child of five. He was slimmer than boys today; his chest was a perfect cradle of bone, his jaw was delicate, his hands as smooth as soap. I remember the great regret I’d felt at shaving his hair, which was white and fine, almost like that of a distinguished gentleman of eighty, and at having to leave a jagged line of stitches, black and fierce as bull ants, marching around his ear.
    His condition was unchanged except that now he had a white turban of bandages. I left him in peace.
    I did rounds. Perhaps I saw to a broken bone or to a child who needed a transfusion. Perhaps I conversed with a set of worn-out parents slumped in cushioned chairs. Lisa arrived for her meeting with me mid-morning. I understood that she was delayed because she had already conducted a press conference from home. Part of it had played on the TV at the nurses’ station. Lisa had reiterated her claim that Jacob had been assaulted by