Israel's first Siamese twins born

Siamese twins joined at the chest were born on Tuesday morning at the Sheba hospital in Tel Hashomer, sharing a single heart. Hospital staff have said that the twins are joined in such a way that makes saving them impossible.

The ultra-Orthodox mother has said that she tracked the pregnancy with doctors, and was told that healthy twins would be born.

A family spokesman said that the hospital's claim that no medical tracking had been conducted "hurt the family."

On Tuesday night, the Sheba hospital apologized to the family, saying that reports claiming that the mother did track the pregnancy were "false, and never came from an official hospital source."

He added that ultrasound checks were charried out during the pregnancy.

"This is the first time that joined Siamese twins, joined at the chest, have been born in Israel," said Professor Arnon Vijnaytza, who runs the Women and Birth Department in the Soroka hospital in Beer Sheba.

According to Vijnayza, "there have been other cases of Siamese twins being joined at the chest, but these were discovered at an early stage in the pregnancy, in the thirteenth or fourteenth week, and in these cases, the pregnancy is aborted. It's very rare that this reaches pregnancy since this a defect that can be identified in advance."

Siamese twins are created when the egg splits late on the thirteenth day of pregnancy. "In these cases, the twins are joined in chest, heart, and head," said Professor Vijnayaza, who added that twins "joined at the heart don't have a chance."