British twin dies after separation surgery

LONDON, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- A few hours after she was separated from her conjoined infant twin sister, Hope Williams died Wednesday at a London hospital.

Doctors at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children said that the baby's lungs were not large enough to sustain her, The Guardian reported. Dr. Agostino Pierro, who headed the team that carried out the complicated surgery, gave her sister Faith a 50 percent chance of life.

The twins were born a week ago to Laura Williams, 18, of Shrewsbury, the youngest known mother of conjoined twins. Williams and her husband, Aled, had been warned three months into the pregnancy that the twins had a small chance of survival but decided against an abortion, the newspaper said.

The girls were born connected from breast-bone to navel and sharing a liver and several major blood vessels.

Pierro said that the surgery, which began Tuesday afternoon and ended at 7 a.m. Wednesday morning, was one of the most complex operations he has been involved with. He described Faith as being in stable condition.

"If everything goes well there will be more surgery required to close her tummy but I can't tell you now when the surgery will happen," Pierro said.

Normally, doctors prefer to wait to separate conjoined twins until they are older. But Faith and Hope had developed an intestinal blockage that threatened their survival.