Mary Lu Angelilli, MD

This happened over 25 years ago, but she remembers it clearly. . . . at the time, she was a pregnant intern on the infant-toddler ward of the busiest children's hospital in the Midwest. It was December, and the ward was jumping. One of her patients, Tony, a 3-month-old with tracheomalacia and severe croup was sick and not improving much. Tony's mother was worried mainly about her son, but there were other things. She had recently come north after being laid off in Alabama. Her unemployment had quickly led to homelessness. She had a brother in town, and she had moved in with him. When she arrived, she found out that he was a heroin addict. He was uninterested in her and her son, and his house was unsafe.