Conjoined twin dies after separation surgery
One of the year-old conjoined twin girls who underwent surgery to separate their heads died shortly after the procedure was completed in a Boston hospital today.
Lea and Tabea Block, from Lemgo, Germany, were successfully separated this morning, but Tabea died later “after an exhaustive resuscitative effort,” said Johns Hopkins Children’s Centre spokeswoman Staci Vernick Goldberg.
Lea was in critical but stable condition and “doing well” in the hospital’s paediatric intensive care unit, Goldberg said.
“We extend our deepest sympathy to the parents and family of Tabea Block,” Goldberg said. “At the same time, we have great hope that Lea will remain strong, recover well and grow into a healthy young girl.”
The surgery to separate the girls had resumed yesterday morning, four days after the operation was halted when the condition of one twin became unstable.
