According to The Washington Post article "The story of the surgery that made Ben Carson famous - and its complicated aftermath": "Patrick Binder died sometime in the past decade, Theresia's brother Peter Parlagi said. Benjamin is 28 now and still cannot speak, but according to Parlagi is doing "relatively well." He's grown up; his hair is now dark. His younger half-brother, Florian Vosseler, still checks in on him two or three times a year, often with their mother, who declined to be interviewed for this story. They'll take walks, feed him cake and help him drink coffee, which he prefers with extra milk."
The conjoined Binder Twins were separated in 1987.
They are Patrick and Benjamin Binder
seven months
23, they will turn 24 this April.
Yes, he was the lead surgeon separating the Binder twins in 1987.
They didn't die; they're still alive and well in Germany.
The Binder twins, Patrick and Benjamin, were born by Cesarean section on February 2, 1987. They were separated on Saturday, September 5, 1987, at 7:15 a.m., by surgeon Ben Carson and his team. (They were 7 months old.)
For some reason, reports are scarce on the whereabouts of the Binder twins, who were conjoined and survived separation surgery in 1987. It has been suggested the twins are doing well in West Germany. Although the surgery itself was a celebrated success, it was reported two years later that the twins were far from normal. In 1989, Patrick Binder was in a vegetative state, with severe neurological damage and his recovery was uncertain. At the time, it was suspected Patrick would be blind and have a hearing deficit. Benjamin was improving, but was not normal and was developmentally delayed. His ultimate chances of recovery were also uncertain at the time.
Ben Carson separated the Binder twins, who were conjoined at the back of the head, during a historic surgical procedure in 1987. The decision was made after thorough evaluations and discussions about the potential risks and benefits, as the twins shared vital blood vessels and brain tissue. Carson believed that separating them would give each twin a better chance at a normal life, despite the high stakes involved in such a complicated surgery. The operation was successful, allowing both twins to live independently.
Dr. C. Everett Koop was the first surgeon to successfully separate conjoined twins in 1956. The twins were conjoined at the abdomen and were named Patrick and Benjamin Binder. The surgery was performed at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
Conjoined twins. The older terminology was Siamese twins, after the first recorded twins in the country of Siam (now called Thailand).
Samneric