On the 911 call, Nick Flannery’s voice was frantic as he tried to revive his infant son. “Come on, buddy,” he pleaded with the 2-month-old, who had gone limp. “Come on, buddy. Breathe.”

Nick, who was on paternity leave from his I.T. job, was caring for his two boys while his wife, Felecia, was at a doctor’s appointment. Not long before he called 911, on Sept. 7, 2023, his baby, Arlo, vomited while being given a bottle. Nick, who was cradling him, turned him over to ensure that he did not choke, then changed him into fresh clothes and put him in his bouncy seat. Suddenly, Arlo’s eyes rolled back and his body stiffened. Then he went still.

Paramedics rushed to the Flannerys’ house in Blue Ash, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati. They revived the infant, but his breathing remained shallow. Felecia, who returned home to find emergency medical workers swarming her driveway, staggered across the front yard toward her family, uncomprehending.

In the emergency room at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, the Flannerys looked on as doctors worked to save their son. Soon, a social worker took them aside. She explained that a CT scan revealed the presence of subdural hematomas, or bleeding between the brain and the skull: a symptom, she said, commonly seen in abuse cases. Nick and Felecia were dumbfounded.

More tests still needed to be run, she told the Flannerys, but mandatory reporting laws required that the police and child-welfare officials be alerted. Nick and Felecia, upset but certain that any concerns would be allayed once doctors gathered more information, said they understood.