The conjoined twins who were born at the National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street, Dublin, on Monday remained in a critical condition last night in Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin.
A team of doctors in Crumlin yesterday decided, after carrying out an intensive medical examination, that the twins were not suitable to undergo an operation to separate them. It is understood they are joined at the abdomen and share a liver.
In a statement last night the chief executive of Our Lady's Hospital, Gerry O'Dwyer, said the parents had asked that the public "would pray for the twins and all concerned at this difficult time".
The twins were delivered by Caesarean section in Holles Street and transferred shortly afterwards to Crumlin. The parents, who are understood to be Irish and from the midlands, were told that the twins were conjoined following ultrasound scanning. The mother remains at the National Maternity Hospital.
It is understood the team that examined the twins included cardiologists, surgeons, paediatric anaesthetists and radiologists. The hospital said: "The parents of the twins have requested that their privacy be respected and the hospital will adhere to their wishes. Regular information bulletins on the condition of the twins will not, accordingly, be issued."
The birth of conjoined twins is rare worldwide. It would be expected that one set would be born in Ireland every four years or so. Internationally it is estimated between 50 per cent and 75 per cent of conjoined twins are either stillborn or die shortly after birth. The survival rate is estimated at between 5 per cent and 25 per cent.
The birth of the conjoined twins was not the first time such an event has hit the headlines in Ireland. In August 1988 twins girls, Eilish and Katie, were born to Mary and Liam Holton of Donadea, Co Kildare. They were joined at the pelvis and the legs and were the subject of several newspaper articles and later a two-part television documentary.
In one interview in 2000, the parents spoke of how they were swept along by events after the birth. "All I could see was two healthy babies who happened to be joined. They were cute and they were ours and I suppose the magnitude of the whole thing didn't really hit us", Mary Holton said. The parents said Eilish and Katie grew and developed normally into two very different, but compatible little girls.
"Katie and Eilish always had each other for company, so they weren't as demanding as a single child. They had their little squabbles and there was the odd scratch and bite, but I could go out of the room and leave the two of them playing away", Mrs Holton said.
The girls had undergone tests since they were born and when doctors were satisfied that each twin had a fully functioning and properly developed set of organs, they recommended that an operation to separate them could be both possible and successful.
The operation took place in Great Ormond St Hospital, London in April 1992, but three days later Katie suffered a heart attack and died.
Eilish returned to Co Kildare and, apart from the obvious obstacles of having just one leg, has lived a life little different to other girls of her age.
In 1999 she won a National Children's Day bravery award and later won eight medals in the Empire State Games for the Physically Challenged in New York. Mr and Mrs Holton were unavailable for comment yesterday.
