Hey guys. I'd like the opinion of a medical professional. Doctor, nurse, paramedic, anything. Particularly if you're in the British NHS, since that's where this scenario is set. I'll throw the scenario right at you. A 6-7 year old boy is rushed into the hospital you're working at. He's been struck in the forehead with the clawed end of a hammer. He's out cold, his skull caved in. He's in a coma and should probably die. However, he defies the odds and survives. Not only survives but quickly begins to heal, to the point that the wound in his head is scabbing over and closing up. Eighteen days after the attack, the boy comes around. I know this is an impossible situation (I should imagine, anyway), but how would you react to a child rapidly healing like this? Secondly, and probably even more "out there". The boy has abnormal glands in the base of his neck, just above his collarbone. They're taking blood/oxygen as though they were meant to be there, and seem to be doing something, but you're not sure what. Again, how would you react?
I like to dress up and pretend (RP) being a doctor, but I think I will simply cut out throwing on a set of scrubs, labcoat, and stethoscope for this one. I think from what you have just described would actually and essentially turn them into a 'lab rat', in need of further study. Cause clearly this little boy has some very inexplicable condition that could potentially be a godsend to mankind. So off to the secret medical/science lab with the poor lad. Clearly such a gift should be studied and possibly harnessed for the benefit of humanity. The other side of me is screaming: Kill it with fire! Such things are not normal and therefore should be sent back whence they came. And in case you were wondering my stethoscope is neon green.
I'm going to assume this is some type of fantasy story because of the more bizarre elements. I'd say as soon as they identify the abnormal glands, specialists are going to start getting calls. When they get stumped, it may get pushed up the line to Medical University professors & researches. Eventually, the government. As for how long this process takes? It's hard to say. If a reputable reporter got ahold of a story involving unnatural / miraculous healing that they could prove, the story could go viral fast.
I suspect the boy's healthcare professionals will first and foremost be overjoyed that the boy is making an against-the-odds recovery, and will primarily continue to provide the necessary support. Other than that, going down the 'professional interest' path I suspect you're interested in, the treating physicians would be likely to want to write the boy up as a case study, for publication in as prestigious an academic journal as will accept them. It's pretty hard to science (verb) a phenomenon with a sample size of one, so a case study would be first port of call. They'd basically be saying what the patient was like (age, sex, etc), what happened to him, how he seemed when was presented, what findings came up on medical exam and diagnostic testing, what treatments were administered, how he responded to them, what the outcome was. Then maybe a small 'discussion' section. To be accepted for publication, it would need to be a) an interesting case (sounds like you've got that covered) and b) well written-up, so the doctors would want to meticulously hold onto whatever data they gained during his stay in the hospital (e.g. x-rays, whatever blood-gas measurements they'd done to assess those odd glands, etc). This case study would cover what was done to manage the medical case - not a whole lot of extra poking and prodding and probing that wouldn't have helped the patient - but they might have gained quite a lot of info in managing him: e.g. if he had these suspicious lumps, they'd probably have various blood test results, and may even have some cytology/histology/histopathology reports (lab reports) from biopsy. What else might happen beyond a case study is open to interpretation, but I think it would be perfectly realistic that he'd recover and move on to live a happy (or otherwise) life. The case study might be published, and if no-one else ever turned up with similar peccadilloes, that might be as far as the line of scientific interest went. If a whole bunch of people suddenly started presenting in a similar way, more research might be undertaken. Or if something particularly interesting relating to the case seemed pertinent to some other medical (or other) conundrum, it's possible they'd ask to investigate the single patient more closely (e.g. for some kind of 'quick healing' factor or whatever). But the way to go about that would vary a lot with the specifics of what else has gone on, how into conspiracy theorising you are, and what sort of story you're trying to write... Hope that helps and good luck!
Thanks guys. I was wanting to avoid the clichéd shadowy government agents and experiments, so what you've said there @Sifunkle fits exactly with where I hoped to go.