The department of social work was then taking the lead in treating the boy. An Arab native speaker and social worker was taking care of him 24 h a day, and a week later we have decided that we have to deliver the bad news that the boy will be blind in both eyes for the rest of his life.

In this case, delivering such a message raised difficulties that were unusual. The boy was hospitalized with no family member or any relative and, therefore, had no family support. The loss of a right palm has special meaning in Islam. The loss of sight in such a young age in the Arab society and culture raises even greater difficulties in integration in society and raising a family compared to western society. Eventually the bad news was delivered by an ophthalmologist accompanied by two senior social workers, one of which was the social worker that accompanied the boy through his whole stay in the hospital. The decision was to give the message in a clear way, stating the real situation without giving any false expectations. It was clear to us that the boy already knows that he lost his right palm, but the truth about the final visual loss without any possible correction had to be delivered. Though he was only 13 years old, we deliberately talked to him in a grown-up manner.

At the beginning it seems that the boy got the bad news and accepted the situation as it is. We arranged for an instructor that taught him how to use a blind cane; however, at the end he did not want to use it explaining that the use of a cane in his house––or what remained from it––is not explicable. On discharge, the staff felt that the boy did not really process the loss and is still in its angry phase.

The boy was released after about 3 months and got back to his family. Due to the Syrian war, we lost contact with him.