More information on craniopagus parasiticus
See here for my original post on this. You'll recall that there was a debate as to whether removal of the second head constituted murder. Here's another issue to consider (emphasis mine; note that this was written before the Egyptian case):


craniopagus parasiticus / epicome : craniopagus in which a parasitic head is attached to the head of the larger, more nearly normal twin. It results from compromise of the blood supply to one of a pair of craniopagus conjoined twins. It differs from craniopagus conjoined twins in that the body and limbs of the parasitic twin are underdeveloped, leaving in some cases only a parasitic head, inserted on the crown of the autositic twin. The infant is otherwise healthy but her brain cannot develop normally unless the undeveloped head is removed. There have only been 8 documented cases in the worldref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, and 1 only case where surgery has been attempted to correct itref5. The first case of this malformation was Everard Home's famous Twin-Headed Boy of Bengal, whose skull is preserved at the Hunterian Museum. A ninth case occurred in Dominican Republic : Rebeca Martinez was born in Dec 10 2003 from 26-year-old mother Maria Gisela Hiciano and 29-years old father Franklyn Martinez (which have 2 other children ages 4 and 1) at a hospital in Santo Domingo. On Feb 6, 2004, the medical team led by neurosurgeons Dr. Jorge Lazareff (director of pediatric neurosurgery at the University of California at Los Angeles' Mattel Children's Hospital) and Dr. Benjamin Rivera (at the CURE International Center for Orthopedic Specialties) completed the operation on the 8-week-old girl, which doctors believe to be the first of its kind, in nearly 14 hours, saying it went smoothly : 18 surgeons, nurses and doctors took several rotations to cut off the undeveloped tissue, clip the veins and arteries, and close the skull using a bone and skin graft from the second head. The operation was critical because the head on top was growing faster than the lower one and without an operation the child would barely be able to lift her head at 3 months old. After what seemed to be a very successful surgery that ended about 10:30 last evening, post-op hemorrhaging caused doctors to perform surgery again at 1:30am to try and stop the bleeding : she passed away early the morning of Feb 7 around 8am


I don't know how abnormally the brain would develop, but in my mind this provides more justification for the removal of the second head.

By the way, here's an update on Manar Maged:


"Manar Maged is in a stable condition -- no fever, no bleeding, no problems and no post-surgery complications," said Dr. Naseif Hefnawi, director of Benha Neonatal Hospital.

Hefnawi, a member of the team that operated Feb. 19 on Manar, said the "girl's brain is regaining its activity, her breathing is regulated and she moves her limbs easily and normally."

Hopefully, he said, Manar can be removed from a ventilator and transferred out of the Intensive Care Unit in about a week.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hello,
Yesterday at TLC channel, they broadcasted Manar's surgery, and as a mother myself, I found it very difficult not to see the parasitic twin in Manar's case as a human, due to the fact that she was capable of crying and smiling as you said, and she actually cried before the operation.
Therefore, Manar's mother baptized and buried her the way a normal child wuold have been buried.
But the issue here is that they are poor people as I could see, why the TV's broadcasting companies who merchandise the surgery, gave these family money to face the progress on Manar's life?
Thanx,
Frida Ramirez
Santa Monica, CA

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