Extending Life...or Prolonging Death?

While going through the news today, we came upon this heart-wrenching story of 3-month-old conjoined twins Kaydon and Kameron. The boys, who were born -- and still remains in the neonatal intensive care unit -- at University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago, are connected at the thorax and share a fused or deformed heart. The upper chambers of the their single heart, known as the right and left atria, have a large hole between them, as do the lower pumping chambers, called the right and left ventricles. As a result, deoxygenated "blue" and oxygenated "red" blood are constantly mixing. In addition to other abnormalities of the heart and surrounding blood vessels, most of the boys' shared liver is in Kameron's body. Both boys have undeveloped lungs, among other problems and Kameron's kidneys appear to be failing.

Their mother, 21-year-old Brianna Manns, is a stern believer in God's will and when she was told about her sons condition in utero, she refused to have an abortion.

"At the end of the day, it's God's say-so," she told the Chicago Tribune. "I believe in God 100 percent. Yes, the machines are man-made. But God gave them those machines as well. Everything goes back to God."

Doctors thought they wouldn't survive birth. They thought the boys wouldn't live this long. So, Brianna's hoping they're wrong again and that a cardiologist somewhere in the world could perform the surgery needed to save her babies. But doctors say no twins with the rare cardiac abnormalities Brianna's baby have, have survived surgery and no surgeon the family or the hospital have contacted think a successful surgery is possible.

Now, the hospital is worried about the boys' quality of life and is hoping the spare them unnecessary suffering.

"We're not providing them curative therapy, we are just prolonging the dying process," the hospital's ethics consult said. "They are growing, but their organs will fail."

Brianna is not giving up.

"It's tough, but I don't let it overshadow what I see every day," she said. "I will not give up. I will never give up. My boys have not stopped fighting, so why should I?"



Sidebar: In case you were wondering who's footing the bill for all of this? We all are. As of June 1, the hospital has billed Medicaid for $792,000.



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