12 September 2003

Siamese Twins, a retrospective

Singapore is such a high-tech city, the only types of accidents that happen can never happen elsewhere.

Such as, a researcher in a virological lab contracting a deadly virus. May I say that I'm thankful NUS does not work with Ebola and other more important and deadly viruses? "Outbreak" and "21 Days" are not just far-fetched summer movies, but potentially Singaporean scenarios.

Such as, a woman falling into a gap in the train platform and then run over by a train on one of our driverless, un-manned high-tech train stations.

Such as, a never before done operation that relies on equal parts high technology, pure desperation, and a lust for glory. Online tech magazine Wired News has a 5 page leader article on the twins operation.

The tagline? "Laleh and Ladan Bijani wanted separate lives. Doctors wanted to make history. The inside story of what went wrong." Read the details here at Wired News.

An advice from the magazine to tech-savvy doctors: "Image guidance makes some surgeons better, but it can make others braver."

An advice to everyone else: Technology never guarantees improvement.

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