Two-Headed Baby?

[Mark]

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

Reality television sinks to a new low. Stunts like that should be illegal!

 

[Umbran]

It's in the best interest of her health to know everything she can from her own and her family history.

This is a good point. For medical purposes, I am not sure there's much difference between, "You needed head surgery as an infant" and "You had the undeveloped body of your sister hanging off your skull". The former may include all the medical information she needs without the emotional trauma.

In the end, the real answer depends upon the child. Some people cna handle such things without much difficulty. FOr others it might cause some unfortunate issues.

 

[Mark]

This is a good point. For medical purposes, I am not sure there's much difference between, "You needed head surgery as an infant" and "You had the undeveloped body of your sister hanging off your skull". The former may include all the medical information she needs without the emotional trauma.

In the end, the real answer depends upon the child. Some people cna handle such things without much difficulty. FOr others it might cause some unfortunate issues.

I guess the decision is whether to tell them only when they become an adult, or to tell them earlier. If not until as an adult, the parents should be sure that responsibility is covered in their will, just in case.

 

[ghettognome]

The freaky thing is that the other underformed baby could smile. That is just creepy. What is with Egypt and conjoind twins. In Dallas last year they separated a pair of egyptian twins.

 

[Torm]

What is with Egypt and conjoind twins.

Improperly shielded nuclear experiments? Ancient Pyramid Aliens doing genetic stuff, trying to create the five-assed monkey?

It does seem like that region gets more than its fair share. Maybe it's the scarcity of water, combined with high amounts of good ole solar radiation?

 

[BOZ]

The freaky thing is that the other underformed baby could smile. That is just creepy. What is with Egypt and conjoind twins. In Dallas last year they separated a pair of egyptian twins.

smile and blink, and yeah, that is creepy in the extreme.

maybe that's the explanation for the egyptian gods - they were just really horribly deformed people that looked like they had animal heads.

 

[Krieg]

Well, I think that some questions are gonna come up, don't you?

Especially when twenty years down the line some reporter decides to track her down for a follow up story on how her life has turned out.

 

[Darth K'Trava]

If the question comes up, then try to answer it in a sensitive manner. A child is going to be anxious of anything being wrong with them when they see all their peers as "perfect". Some explanation at a younger age... probably 12 (a wild guess) and a more in-depth explanation when the child is in her late teens (to hopefully avoid the teen angst of the earlier teen years). It's a touchy situation no matter how you handle it. Any child (and most adults) don't want to hear that they were born with a defect. Although it does happen. I, for example, was born with an "extra pinky" on each hand (I STILL have the scars on my hands from that!) and an extra toe. All were removed. I know about it. But at least noone in school pointed out that for they didn't notice that... (whew!!)

Smiling and blinking showed SOME brain function somewhere..... makes you wonder just how much cognizance that second twin had..... (even if it wasn't much)

 

[Darth K'Trava]

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.

That's just plain bloomin' wrong!!! The things people will do for tv...... ARRRGGGHHH!!!

That out of the way.... the only, repeat ONLY way I'd see that as being useful is for surgical students at med school. That is the only way I'd see the reasoning behind "the surgery channel"....

 

[Andrew D. Gable]

I think there was a case in France around the turn of the century or in the late 1800s where there was a guy with a second head growing out of his forehead. He made his living in, surprise, a circus.

Apropos of little to nothing, the Elephant Man was formerly employed as a door-to-door salesman. Talk about picking a job that doesn't play to your strengths...