Separation
In 1996, they traveled to Germany, trying to convince doctors there to separate them; the German doctors however declined to operate, saying that the risk of separation surgery would be too high for both of them.
In November 2002, after meeting Dr. Keith Goh, a Singaporean neurosurgeon who successfully separated the Shrestha sisters from Nepal (Ganga and Jamuna), who had previously also been joined at the head, the Bijani sisters travelled to Singapore to undergo the controversial operation. Even though they were warned by the doctors that the surgery to separate them would still be very risky, the sisters were very determined. Their decision to go ahead with the operation caused an international media blitz.
After seven months in the Southeast Asian country doing extensive psychiatric and legal evaluations, they underwent surgery on July 6, 2003, under the care of a large team of international specialists at Raffles Hospital, composed of 28 surgeons (including world-renowned neurosurgeon Ben Carson) and more than 100 support staff working in shifts. A specially-designed chair was required that allowed the operation to be performed with both sisters in a sitting position.
The attempt to separate the twins turned out to be very difficult, because their brains not only shared a major vein (the superior sagittal sinus), but had fused together. The separation was achieved on July 8, 2003, but it was announced then that the twins were in critical condition, both having lost a large volume of blood due to complications of the operation.
The separation stage of the surgery completed at 13:30 (Singapore time, UTC +8), but there was significant blood loss during the blood vessel repairing process, and Ladan Bijani died at around 14:30 on the operating table; her sister Laleh died a short time afterwards at 16:00. The deaths were announced by the chairman of Raffles Hospital, Dr. Loo Choon Yong.
Read more about this topic: Ladan And Laleh Bijani
Famous quotes containing the word separation:
“I was the one who was working to destroy the one thing to which I was committed, that is, my relationship with Gilberte; I was doing so by creating, little by little and through the prolonged separation from my friend, not her indifference, but my own. It was toward a long and cruel suicide of the self within myself which loved Gilberte that I continuously set myself ...”
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