Houston Chronicle by Keri Blakinger and Mike Hixenbaugh 11/7/2019
This article, the fourth in a series, was published in partnership with NBC News.
It was almost dark when the child welfare worker came for the children.
Two months had passed since Melissa Bright turned her back for a second, then heard the sickening thump of her baby’s head hitting concrete.
It was a short fall, just under 2 feet. The kids had been playing in the sprinkler, trying to cool off in the front yard on that July afternoon. Melissa set 5-month-old Mason on a camping chair before turning to wrangle wet clothes off her 2-year-old daughter.
After Mason fell on the driveway, Melissa scooped him up and ran upstairs, watching his head swell as he wailed. Panicked, she called her husband, Dillon, at work then dialed 911.
The Brights stayed the night at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, praying their son would be OK. The next day, a medical team came into the room. They had reviewed some scans of Mason’s head and had questions: Had the baby fallen a second time? If not, why were there two skull fractures?
The Brights were baffled. They didn’t remember any other fall and didn’t know what else could cause that type of injury.
Unsatisfied by their answers, a doctor training to become a child abuse pediatrician typed up a disquieting note in the boy’s medical records. “The presence of multiple skull fractures is concerning for a nonaccidental skeletal injury,†Dr. Dhvani Shanghvi wrote. “The single impact fall would not be expected to cause both injuries.â€
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