Two-Headed Baby Born In Philippines

In an extremely rare instance, a baby girl born at the Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital in the Philippines Tuesday night has two heads, CBS News reports. Named "Baby Girl Arciaga," the infant has two spines, two brains and two hearts, encased in one cavity, but she shares everything else, including lungs and kidneys, according to the CBS report.

"This is a very rare case. It's new even to us," Dr. Ruben Flores, FMH's director, said in a television interview.

The condition is called dicephaly monozygotic conjoined birth, and it occurs in only one out of 80,000 live births.

The sharing of vital organs for the two heads poses a danger, for which the baby is now under observation, AFP reports.

"The rate of survival will depend on the shared organ. If they only have one heart, they will not survive," [an] unidentified spokeswoman told local radio.

...
Officials at the hospital said the extra head appeared to be a twin of the girl who failed to fully separate during the development stage in early pregnancy.

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Comments

[NevaforLeadership]

A testament to irresponsible journalism.

Born in Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Philippines; which is it?. Girls; no boys. They are alive; no they have died.

Sickening. When are journalists going to create codes of ethics that would include the requirement for accurate reporting to be a member in good standing?

[TazoWolf]

This is a separate case from the Indonesia case. The other one was reported a few days earlier.

[epiphany1234]

Has anybody given any thought to what kind of life, what kind of future existence, really, awaits these little girls?

[justobserve]

Fox News said the baby died. Strangely it said the baby was born in Bangladesh!

[TazoWolf]

This is a separate case. There were two such cases this past week. One in Indonesia, one in Philippines.

[talkingdog]

These unfortunate deformed individuals should provide food for thought for the evangelical crowd.

Does the child s have one or two souls?
Is it Gods plan?
If the one should die, what then?
If seen in advance, in ultrasound, would abortion have been wrong?
To the point, for them, is life right?

In other cultures in the world they terminate at birth - quietly.
Is that correct?

[lisalovesamelie]

There is no reasoning with the antis.

[woodcut]

Thank you for writing this. I'm curious, too, about what the believers think.

[Oldsop]

I have no clue why God does these things.

[Heather Cherasaro]

The girls have two souls. I think most people would agree. The physical body didn't split all the way as it grew, but a soul doesn't grow the same way. I guess no one will ever really know the reason that God allowed these girls to be born alive without having completely split, but that is the key- that God allowed it. He didn't cause it, He allowed it. I firmly believe that only God has the right to create or terminate life, that choice is not ours. We only have the right/choice to use the means which creates it (sex). And that right/choice should only be exercised under God's law (marriage between man and woman). Reasons that God allowed this could be many- perhaps the mother needed to see her daughters alive, to hold them, and to love them. She may need that maternal bond. The girls would have suffered through an abortion, probably much the same as if they don't make it now. But at least that way it is God's choice. If He calls those girls home, He will call them, and no one will sin (performing an abortion) during the process. The physical body may not be perfect, but the soul is. I feel badly for those little girls, but right now, they and their family, could use your prayers, not your insults on their life and why they have it.

[taiwanjohn]

"The condition is called dicephaly monozygotic conjoined birth, and it occurs in only one out of 80,000 live births."

Um... given the rate of about 4 million live births per year, that would mean that there are 50 such kids born each year, just in the USA. Methinks their estimate of this probability is off by a few orders of magnitude.

--jrd

[piul05]

I thought the same thing...

[lisalovesamelie]

me too.

[QueenCeleste]

May God bless this little one.

[sonshine]

Two. They are two people who weren't totally separated to form twins.

[Keishamaza]

That's what I think as well..two people who share some organs, not one baby girl with two heads!

[BigFootJesus]

Why, god already cursed this person. What kind of god would let this happen?

[leiss62185]

this is kinda sad

[ricmarc]

i can't beleive the child has survived this long. amazing.

[TazoWolf]

They're actually stable at the moment. Apparently even nursing from a bottle! One has a hole in the heart, but they're just watching for now, since they're doing relatively well. Babies like these HAVE survived and lived relatively normal lives. The Hensel twins, for instance, are now 19 years old. They have driver licenses, play sports, etc... perfectly normal teenage girls, except that they each control half a body. Here's a documentary on them. http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=7D8C62223520E07D&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL

[slinkymom]

The Hensel twins and their parents are amazing and an inspiration.

[IndyGirl19]

That was beautiful. Thanks.

[berrycooda]

A very sad situation for the babies and the parents.

All parents long for a healthy baby after 9 months of waiting.
Hopefully the Dr.s will be able to do something to help...
at least save one.

[sonshine]

I wonder how the doctor didn't detect the condition before the birth. Perhaps no prenatal care. That is a sad situation in the developing world that even plagues the inner cities and rural areas of our wealthy nation. We have one of the lowest birth rates of all developed countries and we are even behind many developing countries. http://www.indexmundi.com/g/g.aspx?v=25&c=us&l=en. But who needs a public health care option when those who can afford good health care have more than they even need, right? Right.

[OGoodGrief]

I lived in the Philippines for a few years. Medical care is substandard at best. In rural areas, worse. It's not a surprise to me that doctors didn't detect this before birth. But even if they had, I'm not sure that would have made a difference. It's a very religious country (thanks to the missionaries) and I can't see the mother making a different choice other than to give birth. If the babies survive, I wonder how accepted they will be in a country with a high illiteracy rate. Many are uneducated. That breeds less tolerance. Such a sad situation.

[CaptainVideo]

With two hearts, it might be possible to separate them. People can live with one lung and one kidney. The stomach and the digestive system would be the real problem.

[Fromageball]

But everything is is the same ribcage, they share everything other than the brains/hea­rts/spines­. One child would only be a head if they were separated.

[renoir]

oh! lol but with real shame. this is such a sad thing that your macabre sense of humor is helpful... in a deeply twisted way.

[pinkyboo]

this is just tragic- my sympathies to the parents.

[TazoWolf]

Documentary on Conjoined Twin girls with pretty much this same condition... except they've survived to their late teens now, and remain healthy, even athletic! their teamwork is absolutely astounding. Heck, they've even got their driver's licenses (yes, plural).

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=7D8C62223520E07D&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL

[OleLadySquawking]

Those 2 girls are beautiful!

[lauraj40026]

Byrant,mut­ants?You'r­e real compassionate.

[lummysdad]

There is no such thing as a two-headed baby! They're twins!

[charbinx]

Yeah... this article is a little misleading.

[ainnj]

yes, they are twins, each with their own brain and thoughts and feelings. It's quite tragic really as 2 hearts and brains might be too much for the other major organs, like lungs and kidneys, to support. I am guessing that people here are having much more difficulty accepting co-joined twins who share a torso rather than twins that are attached at the chest, for example.

[Sean 6399]

Two-headed girl(s):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSy9W3gIhnQ

[Anonani]

Thank you Sean. My heart truly goes out to these parents. Every new parents nightmare is to have a child with congenital birth defects. This situation was tragic and painful. I pray that the parents will be blessed in the future with a normal pregnancy. I guess the mother's prenatal care did not include ultrasound. No one should have been surprised...but maybe they weren't?

[tkondaks]

Those are the wonderful Hensel twins from Minnesota.

They are a gift to us and they should be treasured. I hope that your reference to them as "two-headed girl(s) was not meant to be derogatory.

[Anonani]

I did not look at the video before I responded, thinking it was video of the infants. My own response was about the newborns from the Philippines. The Hensel twins are quite amazing.

[Sean 6399]

No I didn't mean to be derogatory at all, just descriptive.

I used to think that it was appropriate to abort "defective" children. Then I saw a documentary about a profoundly mentally retarded man that changed my opinion. This man couldn't really communicate too well, and he had a habit of chewing on and destroying any remote control in the house. In spite of his troubles, he was clearly a very happy being, and he brought immense joy to his family and everyone who knew him. His life may not be one I would want for myself, but that's ok, it was his life and he seemed content with it. I realized that this desire to prevent the "suffering" of abnormal offspring was well-intentioned but misguided. All life is precious and miraculous, including the lives of these people with birth defects. It is not our place to judge them unworthy of life. If nature decrees that they can not live, that's one thing, but forcefully taking their lives now seems very wrong to me.

That documentary had one line that was very memorable. A person said "Most people are brought into this life to learn, but people like *these twins* are here to teach."