Siamese twins and an exceptional Jewish law ruling

Joined at the heart, it's painful to realize that these Israeli twins were doomed from start. Ha'aretz reports that the ultra-Orthodox parents would have used modern diagnostics (cf. my previous post). Furthermore: "A source close to the family said that had the diagnosis of the conjoined twins been presented in time, the parents would have sought rabbinical approval to stop the pregnancy."

It's not the first time that an Orthodox family had Siamese twins who shared a heart.

Philadelphia, 1977. The country's top halakhic authority, R. Moses Feinstein, agreed orally to let C. Everett Koop terminate one (non-viable) of the doomed twins so that the other (viable) twin could live. Here's the story as told by Rabbi Moshe Tendler. R. Feinstein apparently treats the non-viable twin as a rodef, a pursuer, who may be terminated (cp. fetus that threatens a mother's life). I believe that R. Bleich (Tradition 31:1, 1996) and R. Tendler also suggest another rationale, based on classifying the non-viable twin as a treifa, a person who cannot live for long. R. Shabtai Rappoport harmonizes the two approaches. From any standpoint, R. Feinstein's decision is highly controversial because it seems to permit the active termination of a newborn for the sake of another's life.

R. Moshe Feinstein's compassionate and sui generis decision has been used to critique the Catholic position in a similar, more famous Siamese twins case in England. (by Leora Rosen, Gregg Easterbrook)

Sobering case to consider, as we enter the gates of repentence, the gates of judgment, as The Supreme Judge decides who shall live and who shall die.

May you be written and sealed in the book of life, a redemptive Rosh ha-Shanah (Jewish New Year) to all,

Kaspit

Another link: essay on conjoined twins cases

Comments

[amanda]

this was very intresting and i enjoyed reading it. im writing a paper on conjoined twins and if it is ethical to separate them to sacrifice a life and this paper helped me come to a conclusion. Thank You!

[kaspit]

Glad this was helpful. Thanks muchly for your note.

[Maryanne]

April 19, 2006
I remember the September 1977 case very well. As a matter of fact, the incident with the twins was the beginning of a significant change in my own spiritual life as a result of something that happened to me on the night that I saw the twins on TV from my suburban Philadeldephia home. I have often wondered what happened to the surviving twin and today I decided to do some googling to see if I could find anything out. I now know that the twins were born of 2 prominent Jewish teachers and that the decision to sacrifice one of the twins was even more gut-wrenching for them then I had imagined, as a result of their faith. I also now know that Baby A had no chance at all, and that therefore the decision of which baby to sacrifice was made because of the medical circumstances and was not random. Back in 1977, I had wished to share my little miracle with the baby's parents, but was never able to discover their identities. I realize now that my miracle was for me only, a Christian, and not for them. Over the weekend I wrote about the twins in my blog (http://insidethegildedcage.blogspot.com/) if you care to visit. I hope that if the sister who survived is still alive and aware of the circumstances surrounding her birth, that she has found peace within herself.