Here’s a question that’d been danced around in other threads, but FWIK hasn’t been directly asked. I know legal jurisdictions vary, but I figure there’s gotta be some sort of precedent.
Anyways, tonight on TLC, there was a show on a pair of conjoined twins in Minnesota. They were, as I can only realistically describe it, two distinct souls sharing one physical body.
So, how does this work legally? Are they required to get two drivers’ licenses? How about if one commits a crime, is the other one automatically considered an accessory just by virtue of the fact of their presence?
Or, is it all a case-by-case basis thing?
Tripler
Not trying to be crass about it, but genuinely curious.
The girls you saw (Abigail and Brittany Hensel) recently got their driver’s licenses, and yes, they were required to take two tests and they each got their own license. In the most recent speical on them, their teachers and others talked about how many of these issues are just going to be dealt with as they arise. So many other conjoined twins have lived sheltered, often “disabled” lives, but these girls are living about as normally as anyone.
Since viable conjoined twins have separate brains and personalities, I think it would be difficult not to treat them as two different individuals legally. However, I am not aware of any cases where such twins have been accused of a crime.
Chang and Eng, the original “Siamese twins,” were married to two sisters and maintained as “normal” a life as could be possible considering their circumstances.
They share a single reproductive system so if they ever have children then both girls will be the child’s biological and legal mother. Their children will have 3 people listed on their birth certificate. Of course I since they are in fact two different people they cannot both marry the same man.
Sorry, I don’t see that this is a foregone conclusion. If only one of them can marry a particular husband because they are separate people, then why would both of them need to be listed on a birth certificate as parent of the child? (Do birth certificates even have three slots for parents?)
I don’t see this as any different than surrogacy. The legal mother of the child would simply be using a womb that her sister happens to share. If Abby marries, and she and her husband have a child, then Brittany would be the child’s aunt because she’s Abby’s sister.
But would a DNA test show any difference between Brittany and Abby’s DNA?
No, wait, it would be the same, wouldn’t it?
Hmm. :: scratches head ::
They’d have to be ‘co-mothers’ wouldn’t they?
If the father was in love with A but not B, would that make a difference? Would both of them feel what was going on in the vagina? What if one was excited and the other not?
Actually, Chang and Eng Bunker did get into legal trouble a few times, as one of the brothers had both a drinking problem and a temper. I can’t recall the details, but the whole “if we lock up the guilty we lock up the innocent, too” argument arose. I think they dealt with the offense(s) by fine
No more than any other identical twins. If Sally and Lisa are (non-conjoined) identical twins, if Sally has a baby then Lisa is an aunt, not a co-mother, even if genetically the two sisters are identical.
Yes, it does get a little weird with the Hensel twins, but I’d say legally and socially you could have a mother/aunt situation if one of the girls was married and the other wasn’t.
However, if both girls marry different men they’ll you need a paternity test to figure out who fathered the child. Not that big a deal these days. Unless they marry identical twins, in which case it will be impossible to determine specific paternity through genetic testing.
In any case, I would expect it’s something that would worked out between the parties involved should the issue arise. Let’s be real here, the girls are at a disadvantage in dating due to their physical deviations from the norm.
I do find it disturbing how often people go from “Oh, they’re so cute!” to speculation on their potential sexual lives. Wonder what Abby and Brittany think about that sort of thing?
You’re welcome. It is remarkable to me that they are able to be so coordinated physically. The video shows them typing! I can barely manage two fingers by myself.
Back to their legal status, just after I submitted the OP, the show went on to basically say what Scarlett67 has already said (thanks, BTW!). To which my girlfriend looks over and says, “Yep, two tests allows the state to charge twice for the same test!” :dubious:
Anyway, I wonder how this works for other things, like jury duty. IIRC, they pull jury duty lists from drivers liscenses. Knowing their DL has a photo on it, I doubt the jury pool lists do. So what happens if Brittney gets called, but not Abigail? Would they consider Abigail as a second juror, or an alternate juror?
I’m also thinking of voting: there’s gotta be some political or legal actions that require at least some form of secrecy or seperation (you’re not supposed to enter the booth with someone else).
It seems the Judicial system has dealt with the conjoined issues before–i.e. fines versus imprisonment. But I have to wonder what the other day-to-day things are.
Tripler
There’s gotta be other examples. I just need more coffee at 9:16 AM.
My guess, based on nothing at all, is that where their being cojoined causes problems, the law will try to find soutions that are the least restrictive, even if it has to create legal fictions.
Morbid question - what happens when one of a pair of conjoined twins dies? Is it possible for one to die without the other? I imagine it depends on how “conjoined” they are to start with, but does anyone here know for sure?
If they share a blood supply, as they almost invariably do, then toxic compounds circulating in the blood originating from the dead twin would almost certainly kill the other in short order.
Returning to Chang and Eng, Chang, who had been in poor health, died first, followed by his brother a few hours later. While it is uncertain what exactly killed Eng, it is possible he could have survived if they had been promptly separated.
I remember reading (sorry, I’ve been searching, but can’t find the site) that it was possible that Eng bled to death, because he & Chang shared part of their circulatory system. Eng’s blood flowed out into Chang and pooled there.
I believe that officially, Eng’s death was documented as being caused by shock.
