TWINS SEPARATED, WEAKER SISTER DIES
WebPosted Tue Nov  7 11:50:13 2000

MANCHESTER, U.K.--Doctors in northern England said they've completed the 
operation to separate the twins known as "Jodie" and "Mary" on Tuesday. 

 The 20-hour surgery was complex as the three-month-old girls were joined 
at the abdomen and had a fused spine. Mary depended on her sister's 
heart and lungs to live. 

 As expected, Mary, the weaker of the pair, died. Jodie is in "critical, 
but stable" condition. 

 The twins in an incubator Up to 20 doctors and nurses were involved in 
the operation at St. Mary's Hospital in Manchester. The procedure 
finished at 5 a.m. Tuesday. 

 Doctors knew that the operation would kill Mary, but they also believed 
it was the only hope for Jodie to survive and have a chance at a normal 
life. 

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 The girls were born Aug. 8, joined at the abdomen, and doctors said they 
would both die within months if they weren't separated. 

 The girls' parents, from an island off Malta, didn't want the operation. 
They're Roman Catholic and said God should decide the girls' fate. 

 But the courts intervened and, after struggling with the idea of 
intentionally ending one child's life, ruled the separation was 
necessary and allowed it to go ahead. 

 A late appeal by the Pro-Life Alliance, an anti-abortion group, was 
rejected on Friday. 

 Jodie faces many other complicated operations and several more months in 
the hospital if she survives. 

 
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