UK inquest into conjoined twin death

Drawing of the twins before separation

LONDON, England -- A coroner is hearing evidence into the death of conjoined twin Mary Attard, who died following a 20-hour operation to separate her from her sister Jodie.

The babies were separated at St Mary's Hospital in the northern English city of Manchester in an operation that inevitably led to the death of the weaker twin.

Coroner Leonard Gorodkin spoke of the unprecedented nature of the hearing.

He met parents Michaelangelo Attard, 44, and his wife Rina, 29, strict Roman Catholics from the Maltese island of Gozo -- who had opposed the operation on religious grounds -- after a court ruling allowed the operation to take place.

Gorodkin, 64, who is heading the inquest at Manchester Coroner's Court, said: "It's a set of circumstances I don't believe any coroner has had to face before.

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"I'm going to have some difficulty but will have to come up with a verdict in due course."

The coroner added: "I have had many sorts of cases but this is quite exceptional.

"Although I have dealt with many, many deaths that have followed surgery, that surgery wasn't carried out with the knowledge that the person was going to die."

Mr Gorodkin also visited both babies in hospital before the operation.

"The meeting and seeing the babies was very useful to understand the reality of the situation as against the publicity."

Mary and Jodie were born at St Mary's in August after the parents were brought to Britain by Adrian Bianchi, a Maltese-born paediatric surgeon.

They were joined at the abdomen and with fused spines, and Jodie's heart and lungs were keeping both of them alive.

Mary was said to be "draining the life blood" from her sister and without the operation, which would inevitably lead to the death of Mary, both would die.

After their birth surgeons went to the High Court in London and won the right to operate to save Jodie against the wishes of the parents.

The Attards, whose identities were protected until the lifting of an injunction last week, had objected to the operation because they believed that their daughter's fate should be left to the hands of God.

In September they challenged the decision in a privately funded appeal that was denied after agonising deliberations by three judges.

An 11th hour appeal was launched by the ProLife Alliance but also failed.

A team of 20 nurses and doctors worked through the night to separate the twins and save Jodie in October.

One of the three surgeons involved in the operation, Mike Maresh, an obstetrician in charge of the twins' delivery and care, Alan Dickson or Bianchi, will give evidence at the inquest along with a pathologist.

Last week the parents spoke for the first time of the heartbreaking operation in an interview on British television.

They told ITV they would never forget Mary and hoped to bury their daughter in Gozo.

"We only think day by day. Hopefully one day we will all go back together, taking Jodie back with us and Mary, because she is part of our family and will be close to us all the time. We still love them the same, they are both our daughters."

Jodie is getting stronger every day in hospital, is now feeding normally and has been taken off a ventilator.

"We are very happy because she likes to try to talk with us. She makes sounds like she is talking with us and she smiles at people and us.

"It makes us very encouraged for the future. She's going to be a real fighter," Rina Attard said.

Jodie now faces years of extensive surgery and skin grafts.

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Social history of conjoined twins

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