Surgery for two-headed baby

[Chicago Democrat]

By Peter Prengaman in Santo Domingo
February 5, 2004

A DOMINICAN infant born with a second head will undergo a risky operation on Friday when surgeons try to sever the appendage and prevent haemorrhaging from shared arteries.

Led by a Los Angles-based neurosurgeon who separated Guatemalan twins, a medical team will spend about 13 hours removing Rebeca Martinez's second head, which has a partially formed brain, ears, eyes and lips.

Eighteen surgeons, nurses and doctors will take several rotations to cut off the undeveloped tissue, clip the veins and arteries and close the skull of the newborn using a bone graft from another part of her body.

"We know this is a delicate operation," father Franklyn Martinez, 28, told The Associated Press this week. "But we have a positive attitude."

More...


http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,8588878%255E401,00.html

[KamaAina]

1. A partially formed brain?!

Oh, drat, it was born in the Dominican Republic, so it can't be pResident... :-)

[slappypan]

2. gosh

I just don't know which topic I want to discuss more, the dog-raper or the two-headed baby. Got any alien abduction stories?

[DBoon]

3. What do the pro-life people have to say about this?

I mean we have the elimination of a potential life-form here, a human being in the making. Isn't this the same as a "partial birth abortion"?

[girl gone mad]

4. Of course.

They would probably prefer that he live as a freak for the rest of his life (that's a comment on how society views people, not a personal judgement).

[TheUnknownPoster]

7. Not in this case

This is obviously some kind of fused twin scenario, where two sperm entered the egg but fused during development so that only one baby was born, but with some left-over "features" from her "twin".

It's kinda like the school nurse on South Park who had a dead fetus attached to her head. The other head wasn't alive itself, so there wouldn't be anything wrong with removing it. And afterwards the live baby should be fine.

[dumpster_baby]

9. how do you know the partial brain is not alive?

It has blood vessels going to it, most likely. If you have brain structure and neurons and oxygen, you may well have life.

[Pithlet]

12. There is brain activity.

But it isn't fully developed. The baby would not develope normally if they leave the head on. I think it is the right thing to do to operate on this poor baby. I can't imagine what the parents must be going through.

[dumpster_baby]

8. I think we should keep the partial head alive!

I am serious. We have the technology. Or at least pay for cryopreservation (see www.alcor.com ).

[latebloomer]

11. Maybe they could donate it to GW Bush!

[nini]

15. LOL

gpod one

[Chicago Democrat]

5. Does the little head have a soul?

Does he/she think? Apparently its happened 8 times before. Life is an amazing miracle/horror

[flamingyouth]

6. That poor family

I just cannot fathom going through something as horrible as this. :-(

[Cronus Protagonist]

10. STOP! THE INSANITY! It's probably Zaphod Beeblebrox

Or his child....

"FUCK Bush" Buttons, Stickers & Magnets

[Voltaire99]

13. "Two Headed Boy"

"Two headed boy
All floating in glass..."

http://neutralmilkhotel.net/lyrics.html

[chromotone]

14. Surgery performed by CURE...

http://www.ccure.org/about.aspx