This story is both tragic and triumphant. Lakshmi Tatma, a 2yo Indian girl underwent surgery to remove what was, in fact, remnants of an undeveloped twin sister attached to the lower region of her body. Not only did the young girl have an extra pelvis, she also had an extra set of arms and legs. The surgery lasted 27 hours. Although for many, such an abnormal birth (conjoined twins occur once for ever 200,000 births) would be tragic, some members of the family’s village hailed the young girl’s body as a reincarnation of the multi-limbed Hindu goddess Lakshmi (from 
Lakshmi is currently still on a ventilator, but doctors seem optimistic about her recovery. If Lakshmi does survive without further complications, it will be a miracle, seeing as 75-95% of conjoined twins do not live long due to complications in organ-sharing.
3 comments:
I think this story is incredible. It's amazing that someone so young as a two-year-old has to survive a 27 hour surgery. The fact that instead of deeming her "unnatural" or something like that, she is hailed as the reincarnation of Lakshmi just shows how different our society is than others.
I agree with Steph. Had this girl been born in the U.S., people would have seen her as a mere medical oddity. However, placed in a different cultural context, the girl becomes a reincarnation of a God. I find this whole idea very interesting. Do I think that the girl was actually a reincarnation of a God? I doubt it. However, I think that the fact that she was born in a country which worships a God with a similar atypical body composition than her is unbelievably fascinating. Although it’s most likely a coincidence, you have to wonder.
I think it's rather amazing that doctors were able to do it. Something like this speaks highly to the improvements of the medical society. Since the village saw her as the reincarnation of a god, did they not want her to have the surgery? That would have been an odd turn of events.
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