TEL AVIV, Israel, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- Conjoined twins who shared a heart, lungs and blood vessels died Friday at an Israeli hospital three days after their birth.
The Jerusalem Post reported the twins' mother was a 28-year-old Hassidic woman who already has four children. The twins' condition was not detected during her pregnancy by ultrasound examination.
The mother checked into Sheba Medical Center Sunday and delivered the twins two days later.
Doctors at the hospital said the probable cause of death was heart failure. They are investigating the deaths to see if they could have been prevented, but say the twins could not have been separated because of the extent of their connection.
An Israeli HMO conceded Wednesday it failed to determine the existence of the conjoined twins despite several pre-birth ultrasound scans of their mother.
A Maccabi Health Services spokesman said the mother the ultrasound scans at a Maccabi imaging center, but the scans did not detect the twins were conjoined at their abdomen and shared one heart.
Hospital officials offered no explanation as to why its physicians did not discover the fetuses were conjoined, but the Jerusalem Post said before the Caesarean section was performed, fetal heartbeat monitoring should have determined they shared one heart.
