ethical question

[ying 0]

Manar Maged, suffering from Craniopagus parasitus, was born with two heads. The second head, fully shaped, grew out from the top of the first one. The parasite head occasionally winked and smiled.

Recently, Egyptian doctors have conducted a surgery on already 8 month old Manar and removed the second head. They say that they are absolutely sure that smiling and winking were only reflexes and not the signs of consciousness.

[flyangel2 2]

Do you have a news link to this information?

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey

[tmontana 0]

Click here Crazy ass picture too

___________________________________________
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -Benjamin Franklin

[mr2mk1g 10]

man that's fucked up.

I guess I have no problems with it if the second head was not self aware. That appears to be the case here - so I'd have to say it's the right thing to do.

If it was though... jeez. I guess I couldn't agree with it's removal if it was self aware.

More what if games - what if it was self aware, it would be impossible to survive on it's own (more than likely) but a failure to act would mean the death of the girl? Now that's something to think about.

[billvon 3,107]

>They say that they are absolutely sure that smiling and winking were
>only reflexes and not the signs of consciousness.

I'd have to see the physiology to believe that. There have been people born with significant cerebral hypotrophy who have lived relatively normal lives.

If the second 'parasite head' did have a somewhat functioning brain, moral issues would be similar to a child born with quadriplegia or a severe dysplasia (i.e. face missing) that would result in a very low standard of life. The additional complication would be that the other, more viable child would be negatively impacted by supporting the first.

[cvfd1399 0]

5 jump tickets to the person that finds a video showing the head blinking and smiling!

[Skyrad 0]

*** the second twin had developed no body. The head that was removed from Manar had been capable of smiling and blinking but not independent life, doctors said. ***

theres nothing suggesting that the second twin was not self aware. in fact the story mentions the parasitic twin having brain matter of its own. What a terrible situation for all involved.

When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

[Nightingale 0]

You can have brain matter but no consciousness. They can check brain waves for signs of higher thought.

There have been cases of "parasitic twins", for example, siamese twins where one twin has a functioning heart and the other does not. If doctors do nothing, the heart gets weaker and weaker, not being able to pump blood for the twin it belongs to as well as the parasitic one. If nothing is done, both twins die. Doctors will usually separate them, the idea being that the parasitic twin was literally stealing the other twin's life, borrowing circulation. They are simply taking away access to the heart that the parasitic twin had no right to to begin with.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/920487.stm

[billvon 3,107]

> You can have brain matter but no consciousness. They can check brain
>waves for signs of higher thought.

Difficult on a conjoined head. Is the EEG you see simply conducted activity from the dominant head? Or is it independent activity?

>If nothing is done, both twins die.

Ah, but the more interesting case is a case where the additional load on the heart (say, just another head) is not an undue burden, and the heart can reasonably be expected to last some 30-40 years.

>They are simply taking away access to the heart that the parasitic twin
>had no right to to begin with.

An interesting position. If your heart was insufficient to supply your entire brain, could one argue that your right hemisphere had no right to your heart to begin with? Rights are a tricky thing when it comes to organisms that come from the same clump of cells.

I think any absolute decision on right or wrong on cases like this is bound to failure; it depends on the situation. Surely if a conjoined twin is just an extra pelvis/legs, and it's impeding normal development, it comes off. Just as surely, if the dominant twin is fine but the parasitic twin is too weak to survive on its own - but may be able to within 2 years - it would make sense to hold off the separation. In between you have a gray area.

[AndyMan 7]

Quote

In between you have a gray area.

I think you meant: "In between you have gray matter."

HTH,

_Am

__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

[ACMESkydiver 0]

Lord have mercy, that extra 'head' sure looks like it was developed into a baby.

I guess I can understand some of the arguements above about the survival of one baby taking priority, but heaven help the parents of those two children when they had to make that decision; it had to be tragic for them. I think that decision would have killed me, thank God my twins were each physically complete babies.

~Jaye
Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action.