(2 of 2)
Conjoined twins are rare, occurring once in 50,000 to 100,000 births. They happen when the fertilized egg starts splitting into twins but the process stalls, leaving a partly separated embryo that matures into a conjoined fetus. Many are aborted or stillborn. Surgical separations often fail, depending on how many organs are shared. At a leading U.S. center for this work, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 14 sets of twins have been separated since 1957. Seventeen children survived, and both twins lived in seven cases.
Ethics experts disagree about the proper outcome for Jodie and Mary, but many are uneasy at how readily the lower court disregarded the parents. "This case is really a complete conundrum," says Dr. Richard Nicholson, editor of the Bulletin of Medical Ethics in London. "Both outcomes are right, and both are wrong. That's why it seems right to pay more attention to the parents than the professionals, because they have to live with the consequences." So too must Jodie and Mary--or die from them.
--With reporting by Amanda Ripley/New York