Spectacle and Secrecy: Press Coverage of Conjoined Twins in 1950s Britain

In the early 1950s, when the National Health Service (NHS) was still in its infancy, the British public was gripped by news reports of two attempts at the surgical separation of conjoined twins. The first operation involved one-year-old twin girls from Kano, Nigeria. The twins were xiphopagus (joine...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Medical history 2005-04, Vol.49 (2), p.197-212
Main Author: Loughlin, Kelly
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
20th century
Bioethics
Biology
Confidentiality - history
Female
History of medicine
History of science and technology
History, 20th Century
Humans
Life sciences
Male
Mass Media - history
Medicine
surgery
pharmacy
Twins, Conjoined
United Kingdom
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Summary:In the early 1950s, when the National Health Service (NHS) was still in its infancy, the British public was gripped by news reports of two attempts at the surgical separation of conjoined twins. The first operation involved one-year-old twin girls from Kano, Nigeria. The twins were xiphopagus (joined at the lower sternum) and shared a liver, separation was attempted at London's Hammersmith Hospital in December 1953. One child survived. In February 1955 news broke of the birth of craniophagus twins (joined at the head) in Keighley, West Yorkshire. Separation of the month-old girls was attempted at London's University College Hospital, but neither child survived.
ISSN:0025-7273
2048-8343
DOI:10.1017/S0025727300008577