Two-Headed Baby?

[BOZ]

my wife sent me this link last night...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6998205/?GT1=6190

more than a little bit freaky. although that second head just doesn't look real to me.

 

[Umbran]

Severe birth defects often have the effect of looking fake. I think it may be part of our reaction to "wrongness". Deep down, I think part of us doesn't want to believe in it.

 

[Kemrain]

While this is an unfortunate situation, and I'm pleased the girl survived and is recovering, my twisted mind is left pondering certain details.

That birth couldn't have been easy on the mother, could it?

Oh, how do you tell the little girl about this when she's older?

Blessed we are who may take our perfect bodies for granted.

- Kemrain the Squeemish.

 

[Umbran]

Oh, how do you tell the little girl about this when she's older?

Or, perhaps more importantly, do you tell her at all? Is anything gained by giving her that information?

 

[BigFreekinGoblinoid]

Or, perhaps more importantly, do you tell her at all? Is anything gained by giving her that information?

Well, I think that some questions are gonna come up, don't you? The gal's head will probably have some disfuguration or inability to grow hair over a portion at the least . Poor thang.

 

[Torm]

Reading the article, this seems less like a "birth defect" than that one of a set of twins didn't make it. Depending on the feelings of the family, some might name and bury her, and tell the little girl she was born a twin later in life. Or some might not say anything at all.

To go with what seems to me to be the logical solution, though, would be to have the other "girl fragment" :\ stored, just in case the living little girl needed something (eyes, stem cells from baby teeth, etc) that could be gotten that way, and only bring it up to her should that happen. When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.....

 

[Mark]

Or, perhaps more importantly, do you tell her at all? Is anything gained by giving her that information?

It's in the best interest of her health to know everything she can from her own and her family history. It's, IMO, the primary reason why someone who is adopted should be able to know who their birth parents were, and if they have any history of illness and such. There are preventative measures that can be taken to avoid various things that you might not take (might even be cost prohibative to take) that you probably should do no matter what in certain instances.

 

[Xath]

I saw a pair of live twins who were connected like this on the surgery channel. It was dangerous for both of them because the kidneys and heart of one baby were doing most of the work for both of them. They were connected by the top of the head, but fortunately, no brain tissue was connected. They both lost some skull, but they're fine now.

 

[Mark]

I saw a pair of live twins who were connected like this on the surgery channel. It was dangerous for both of them...

That seems unwise. Why, for starters, would they connect two people like that (regardless if they were twins) and why on earth would they show it on the surgery channel?!?!?!

 

[DragonSword]

That seems unwise. Why, for starters, would they connect two people like that (regardless if they were twins) and why on earth would they show it on the surgery channel?!?!?!

That's gross! I have serious moral objections to "The Surgery Channel"...