On a hazy May afternoon, Bobby Payne laid motionless on a bed by a wide window overlooking North Philadelphia, a once booming industrial hub that's been in decline for decades.
The view hasn't changed for weeks – not since he took a shotgun blast to the stomach and landed at Temple University Hospital.
Payne never saw the bullet coming. He was parked outside of his brother-in-law's house. He had just grabbed a couple cups of coffee from Dunkin' Donuts.
"No sooner than I got out of the car, I heard the shot and that's the last thing I remember, other than laying on the ground," said Payne.
Payne has a visitor today. Dr. Zoe Maher, a trauma surgeon at Temple, sits in a chair inches away. She's got a questionnaire in her lap, and she needs Payne to sign off on a counterintuitive study that could save lives, but also put him and his community at risk.
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