who says two heads are better than one?
19 02 2005
This little girl in Egypt had a conjoined twin that never grew a body, so doctors recently removed the second, “parasitic” head. Weird. Link to story.
zesticle.com
in soviet russia, blog writes YOU!
Jeez Louise, I wonder what’s on their mind?
What do you think they did with the head after they removed it? Do you think they buried it like it was a person, or just disposed of it like they would a cyst or tumor?
I think they would just dispose of it. Considering the second twin lacks vital organs, I would think it’s hard to argue that it’s actually “alive” in this case. I don’t think there was even mention of the second head having any function at all. It was just a growth that ended early in the womb. Like a conjoined still born. Kind of have to take it case by case. Some other instances where they “share” vital organs and one might be just strong enough to make it through a seperation at the expense of the other is really a grey area. Doctor’s not strive officiously to keep someone alive.
The article says that the other head was capable of blinking and smiling (which is just weird to me), which means at some level there was brain activity. Determining what characteristics need to be present to be considered life isn’t easy. There are those that say that life begins as soon as an embryo is conceived, those that say it begins after birth, and others will argue points in between. I suppose it ultimately comes down (in this instance) to what the family believes. If they gave the second head a name, I’d bet they gave it some sort of memorial service (though it was probably destroyed by the hospital; I don’t know if you can really embalm something like that).