The First<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sid had become comfortable with the maelstrom. Toddlers screaming, tearing about as the mom held the newborn, the focus of his interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHow\u2019s he doing?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She held the babe to her breast and smiled at Sid. \u201cGood appetite.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She was here for the ten-day check. She knew the routine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He remembered standing between her spread legs. There was sweat on her cheeks, but her gaze met his. This was coming fast. \u201cPush this next time and it will be over.\u201d And she did. And it was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He caught the slippery form and held it to his chest as the fluids and the cord draped down to the basin. Suction, cut the cord, then hand it off. He attended the mother, the nurse attended the babe, since all looked okay at this point. The mom was the greatest risk right now, so she got his attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sid heard the baby cry from the warmer, so he felt his assessment good. Deliver the placenta, watch for bleeding, look for cuts to sew, check for bleeding. Then turn to the babe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He did that, and her bleeding was okay. Then he went to the warmer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sally, the nurse this day said, \u201cPretty bruised.\u201d The wrinkled newborn face was darker than expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sid did his exam. Healthy baby wrapped up and taken over to mom. \u201cHe\u2019s bruised a bit from coming down that fast. It\u2019s a tough journey. But he\u2019ll be okay. We\u2019ll need to watch for jaundice. The nurses will tell you about that. I gotta go back to clinic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And so, he did. And then she was here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDid you see any jaundice; did he get yellow?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNot much Doc. I watched for it, but he nursed real good from the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They both heard the knock on the door. Cindy didn\u2019t enter, just cracked it a bit and said softly, \u201cCity Police Department on line two.\u201d Sid\u2019s nurse tolerated his coroner role. But she hated when it interrupted patient care. Sid did too. So, he finished with the babe and left the maelstrom and the Madonna.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sid stifled his irritation and picked up line two. \u201cDoctor Hawthorne here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYeah, doc they want you to respond to a scene.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCan I go at lunch time? I\u2019m seeing patients.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUh, no they need you there now. It\u2019s a dead baby.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sid got the location. Just a few blocks west. Still, he\u2019d have to cancel a couple appointments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was late summer, and the University had just started. The town absorbed and welcomed the influx of retail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sid had lived in and observed many Idaho towns and decided he didn\u2019t want to live in a mill town. Mills shut down, not because the guys working there are lazy or are doing bad work. But maybe the market has taken a downturn, and the global supply is tweaking prices. So, the guys go to half shifts or are laid off. Sid came to believe that this boom and bust for no fault of their own created an abusive environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, he chose a town with a university. Maybe that would be healthier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But he came to learn Paradise was a mill town too. The mill didn\u2019t ship out plywood or two by lumber, but the degrees were a product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And that was where Sid was going. The scene was behind a tall dormitory just blocks from the clinic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was a beautiful morning. He parked the Hilux behind a patrol car. There were two or three and yellow tape around a dumpster. Cam came up quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHey doc.\u201d He didn\u2019t smile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo, what\u2019s going on?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He stood up tall, six inches over the short family doctor and coroner. Cam and Sid\u2019s daughters both swam on the local swim team. It\u2019s a small town, except for all these students coming and going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cam took a deep breath and exhaled. He looked at Sid, then down to the asphalt. \u201cA cleaning woman found a dead baby in the dumpster here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He took another breath. \u201cThere were bloody sheets with the body. We have determined the sheets came from a room up there on the sixth floor. We have a young woman in custody. I don\u2019t know her story, they are questioning her downtown. But we need you to authorize an autopsy on the baby.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sid looked off to the north hills. He could almost see his house from here. Kids in school, wife doing her thing. Dead baby, Sid\u2019s first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOkay, Cam, I\u2019ll get it done. Anything else?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He smiled. Like he appreciated Sid was learning his job. \u201cNo Doc, we got the team doing the scene investigation, checking with witnesses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before turning to go Sid stopped. \u201cCam, where is the body?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He frowned a bit. \u201cWe took it downtown as evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIs it in a cooler?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMake sure it\u2019s in a cooler, like a refrigerator, not a freezer. Then I\u2019ll let you know where to take it for an autopsy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He nodded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sid got Morgan, the local pathologist to agree to do the autopsy. He was very skilled, but often refused to do cases that might lead to prosecution. But he would save the taxpayers a thousand bucks compared to shipping the little bundle off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sid read about the story of the young lady in the next day\u2019s morning paper. She was a freshman student from California in a dormitory. Her roommate didn\u2019t know she was pregnant. The cleaning crew had responded to the blood and the missing sheets and followed the trail to the dumpster. He could imagine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Morgan called him the next day in the middle of morning clinic. \u201cWell, there\u2019s no clear cause of death. But the sclera definitely has petechial hemorrhages, so I\u2019m going to call this a death by asphyxia. I believe she choked this baby after it was born.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sid exhaled. Petechial hemorrhages are classic for whenever there is an external obstruction to the internal blood pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMorgan, have you ever delivered a baby?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sid heard the chuckle. \u201cWe all have to do OB in our Med School rotations Sid. Yes, I\u2019ve delivered babies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sid knew, his colleagues did not like their conclusions questioned. But he thought of the babies with their cords around their necks, the babies that had come fast and were bruised, the shoulder dystocia, stuck there and choking. Sid doubted his pathologist friend had gone through these uncommon traumatic birth episodes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOkay. Send me your report.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Back to the grind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was all in the local news. Dead baby, dumpster, University offering support. But elk season was close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cousin Charley had decided on Partridge Creek. He\u2019d bring his two worthless pack animals and they\u2019d just have to hike in the five miles, climbing 6000 feet elevation. Sid took ten days off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And he went.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The vision of a spooked elk herd running down the avalanche chute after they had winded either him or Charley did not stay with him. But another vision did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As he tried to get a view of the thundering herd, an elk calf came through the brush, the hoof beats behind, and sniffed, intently toward him. Sid could see the outline through the branches. The big nostrils, the moist quivering nose, the little frame, the dark eyes all directed toward him. He could hear the forceful nose pointed sniffs. The calf was discerning danger, or safety. Then there was a bleat behind, and it was gone with the others, down to the timber below. Its mother told it what to do, or else some other responsible mature cow in the herd was looking out for a young, inquisitive calf. Someday it may be a big bull, or an old cow. Sid\u2019s memory was of the sniffing, the questioning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There were lots of messages for him when he got back. He told the Prosecutors office he could come up that day after he\u2019d finished with his patients, he hoped before 6PM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The secretary took him to the office of the new Deputy Prosecutor. She\u2019d been assigned the young woman\u2019s case. Sid shook her hand, never having met her before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe had a preliminary hearing last week where you were scheduled to testify. The judge kindly postponed it due to your unavailability.\u201d The tall woman with auburn dyed hair was staring at Sid like a disappointed schoolteacher would a truant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSorry, this is the first I heard about it. I was out elk hunting.\u201d Sid figured that was the best excuse there was for missing a court date. \u201cIf you need me to do something, you gotta let me know.\u201d To himself he admitted he probably wouldn\u2019t have skipped the hunt for some court testimony, even if he would have known.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe left the message with your office. It\u2019s not our fault.\u201d Now she was getting riled. She got up briskly from her chair and strode to the door, a tall woman in high heels. Sid was slouching, now really feeling a truant. She closed the door and strode back, sat down, and took her glasses off. It didn\u2019t make her stare any harsher. Sid wondered if she was trying to be meaner, or nicer with that. \u201cLook, Doctor Hawthorne. You are the county coroner, and I am the deputy county prosecutor. We are on the same side. We both want justice for that poor dead child.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sid nodded silently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo, can I expect your cooperation in this case?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sid nodded again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHave you read the pathologists report?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sid nodded again. \u201cJust this morning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo, we have a homicide here, and that requires justice.\u201d She stood to her full height and stuck out her hand. \u201cI hope we haven\u2019t gotten off on the wrong foot here. The judge has rescheduled the hearing for three weeks from now, the first week of December. Please be available.\u201d She smiled and Sid shook her hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As he left the office in the courthouse basement, he was considering that thing about sides and justice she had thrown out with such confidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Later, after hospital rounds and dinner with the family he went out to his messy garage. The kids were in bed and the dishwasher droning in the kitchen. Sid needed some space. The cluttered workbench with dark windows above was quiet. But he didn\u2019t putter. He would usually pick up a broken thing and try to fix it, but tonight he just stared out the darkened windows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Such peace was rare for him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was Friday and he would be on call this coming weekend. That\u2019s what you get when you take 10 days off to hunt. The sides and justice thing had turned itself over in his mind enough, so he made a call. Literally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The public defender had agreed to meet him on Sunday. Sid had picked a time after hospital rounds but before noon clinic. The office was a small old house below the courthouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There were two of them, lawyers in this small town that had a law school and more lawyers than doctors. Sid didn\u2019t feel outnumbered, just wanting to get this done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The older guy with lots of ear hair smiled and in his gravely smoker\u2019s voice asked with a grin, \u201cHow was hunting?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJust fine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLook Doctor we really appreciate your meeting with us. This poor girl\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou both need to know I\u2019m not on your side.\u201d Sid cut him off. \u201cI don\u2019t know your client, never met her, don\u2019t have any judgement about what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They both sat looking at him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHave you read the autopsy report?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They both nodded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHave you read my Death Certificate?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They shook their heads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou might want to. I certified the cause of death as asphyxia since that\u2019s what the pathologist found. But I certified the manner of death as \u201cCould not be Determined.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They both looked a bit blank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sid did a short lesson on cause and manner of death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou see, babies can be asphyxiated just in the process of birth. Some come out and don\u2019t breathe, or their breathing is so poor they can\u2019t keep it up without help. I did not agree with the pathologist\u2019s interpretation that this was a homicide.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The gravely voice asked, \u201cWould you testify to that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sid shifted. \u201cI would prefer not to. You ought to look around for some experts other than me. I\u2019m just a family doc in a small town.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The younger lawyer asked about the petechia, asking Sid to explain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s pronounced \u2018Pe-teek-ia\u2019. It\u2019s when small blood vessels burst from internal blood pressure usually caused by external pressure or trauma. But that\u2019s exactly what a vaginal birth is, trauma. The baby\u2019s head is under great pressure, especially in a first-time mom. I would bet this would be a common finding in most newborns. Ask somebody else. Don\u2019t go on my word. But I think there\u2019s a lot of ambiguity in this situation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sid stood up. \u201cLook, I\u2019ve got to get to clinic. You guys have work to do too. Don\u2019t consider me your expert. And remember, I\u2019m not on your side.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They stood up as he left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clinic was busy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two weeks later the paper announced the trial was cancelled and a plea agreement had been reached. Sid got no message from the prosecutor\u2019s office. He just read the paper and decided he would not need to cancel appointments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The young woman Sid never met got some counselling, and probation, plead guilty to not reporting a death Sid learned from local news. He never heard from the high heels or the ear hair guy. But he imagined, like the darkness out his workshop windows, or the quivering wet nose of an elk calf, maybe this was how it would be. He thought of the young woman, and justice. She probably suffered the rest of her life. Maybe he would too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cause of Death: Asphyxia<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Manner of Death: Could not be Determined.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The First Sid had become comfortable with the maelstrom. Toddlers screaming, tearing about as the mom held the newborn, the focus of his interest. \u201cHow\u2019s he doing?\u201d She held the babe to her breast and smiled at Sid. \u201cGood appetite.\u201d … Continue reading