"Conjoined Twins Undergo Operation"
Headline in today's Washington Post. That's nice. Yet another pair of Siamese twins from the third world (this pair's from Egypt), flown to a big American medical center where they undergo a workup and operation that costs at a minimum $1,000,000, often two to three times that by the time the children are dead or returned damaged to their home country, where rehab is lacking and they will vanish into oblivion and early death. Oh, and did I mention that the current procedure, in Dallas at Children's Medical Center, involves five neurosurgeons, as many anesthesiologists, countless plastic surgeons, head and neck surgeons, orthopedic surgeons, vascular surgeons, nurses, intensive care unit nurses and respiratory therapists, all of whom are NOT taking care of hundreds, if not thousands, of poor kids in Dallas who could really benefit from this confluence of money and expertise? Of note is the fact that none of these medical centers does a second one. Gee, I wonder why...