This is nit-picky, but if you are a conjoined twin and have another sister as well, then how can she be described as "another twin sister" - doesn't twin imply two ?

God is great. Every sperm is sacred.

The attached head is not actually a second child. It really is hard to grasp that it has no independent life as it is so well formed and seems to have some reflex action. It is merely an unfortunate second set of some organs, parasitically attached to the head of this child. As difficult as it is to see, think of it more like a 6th finger on a hand or a third limb.

Definitely not better than one, in this case.

Greetings From Mars...this is sort of an enlightening story. I hope the baby survives.

This is a miracle of the Lord. We must be grateful to medical advancement as well.

If I didn't know better I'd say that was photoshopped--something about the second head in the first photograph looks strange to me like its out of focus compared to the rest of the picture. Three devloping fetuses? Sounds like someone was on fertility drugs.

The article states that the doctors assured the mother the 2nd head was incapable of independent life despite its seeming to smile and blink its eyes.

Reflex action?

Yergh. That's the creepiest reflex action I've ever heard of, I think. Blech.

I realize it makes me a terrible person, I'm sure, but my instant reaction to the picture is to think, For fuck's sake, they had better cut that thing off of her. Then I remember to thank the gods for making me gay. Whew.

incapable of independent life despite its seeming to smile and blink its eyes.

Well, of course it's incapable of independent life. It's a bodyless head. What they can't say with any certainty is what level of cognition or consciousness the head enjoyed. I'm going to file this one under moral decisions I'm ever so thankful I didn't have to make. While I'm quite certain I'd have made the same decision as the parents, I'm just as certain that I'd be haunted by it.

What do you mean, of course? Are you saying the delicious meats we're stuffed with from the neck down are for something more than slow-roasting?

it is a second child, not just a group of organs. that baby had a totally separate personality from Manar. she could laugh and giggle and be sad and cry just like any child. don't be so heartless. and stop calling it a head.

O.k., here's what happened. The mother originally conceived fraternal twins, meaning two different eggs. However one egg began to split. Normally this would have created three kids, two of whom were identical, but the egg didn't seperate fast enough and they became conjoined twins. Then the blood supply in one of the conjoined babies was injured causing her to not develop much past the head. Manar and the other living baby are not identical, they are fraternal.