It was early in May when Ellen Moore, 22, a pretty young housewife, headed for the Child Welfare Clinic in the bleak Northumberland mining town of Wallsend. Two months pregnant, she had her 16-month-old firstborn, Paul, in his pram. As a truck carrying a load of tree trunks took a nearby corner, one of the lashings parted. A soft, log struck Mrs. Moore a glancing blow on the head, and she fell unconscious.
At the big, expertly staffed General Hospital in Newcastle, five miles away, she was given 48 hours to live. Then, as...