Siamese twins share heart

A Hertfordshire couple are expecting Siamese twin girls who share one heart.

Mother Tina May and her fiancé Dennis Smith will have to decide which of their daughters will be given the chance to live, according to The Sun newspaper.

The 23-year-old described this as "the most horrific choice for any parent". It could also prove to be a legal minefield if the decision to separate the twins is challenged in the courts.

The couple, from St Albans, Hertfordshire, have already named their twins Courtney and Natasha.

The couple were initially offered a termination when it became apparent Ms May was carrying conjoined twins following a routine scan in November.

However, doctors at Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital in London now believe that the dominant twin Natasha could survive because the shared heart is further inside her body than her sisters.

Miss May, who is six months pregnant, is due to have a Caesarean section at the end of April before the twins are transferred to Great Ormond Street Hospital, in London.

Shared liver

Here they will be cared for until they are strong enough for an operation.

The worst part will be having to let Courtney go having built a bond with her

Tina May

They also share a liver which will have to be divided but doctors believe this will regenerate.

Ms May told the paper: "The worst part will be having to let Courtney go having built a bond with her.

"But one thing that will ease our grief is knowing Courtney would have looked exactly the same as Natasha, so she will be a constant reminder of our lost little girl."

The couple also have a nine-month-old son, Damien.

The ProLife Alliance urged British doctors to follow the example of their counterparts in Italy, who are also dealing with a pair of conjoined twins who share a heart.

The Italian doctors are planning to try to save both babies by giving the weaker twin a heart/lung transplant if necessary.

A ProLife Alliance spokesperson said: "Perhaps Great Ormond Street will consider such a possibility for the UK twins, in which case the right to life of the more fragile baby will have been respected.

"Survival chances are very low but at least the baby has a tiny chance of making it through surgery."

Paul Tulley, from the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, said: "The question that we have to ask is do we value one relatively normal life more than two disabled lives such as these children might have if they are left together?"

Rare occurrence

Conjoined twins occur in about one-in-100,000 pregnancies and only around 19 sets have been dealt with at British hospitals since 1984.

Siamese twins joined at the spine survived an operation to separate them in December.

Eman and Sanchia, born to Emma and David Mowatt, from Birmingham, underwent a 16-hour operation at the city's Diana, Princess of Wales Children's Hospital.

Siamese twins Gracie and Rosie Attard made legal history a year earlier when the High Court ruled an operation to separate them should go ahead despite the opposition of their parents.

Michael and Rina Attard, devout Catholics from the Maltese island of Gozo who had brought the twins to Britain for medical care, opposed the operation because it was known Rosie would die.

Rosie died during the operation at St Mary's Hospital, Manchester, but doctors said Gracie could lead a normal life.