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Spectacle and Secrecy: Press Coverage of Conjoined Twins in 1950s Britain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2012

Kelly Loughlin
Kelly Loughlin
Affiliation:
Centre for History in Public Health, Public and Environmental Health Research Unit, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London WC1 7HT, UK, Kelly.Loughlin@lshtm.ac.uk
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In the early 1950s, when the National Health Service (NHS) was still in its infancy, the British public was gripped by news reports of two attempts at the surgical separation of conjoined twins. The first operation involved one-year-old twin girls from Kano, Nigeria. The twins were xiphopagus (joined at the lower sternum) and shared a liver, separation was attempted at London's Hammersmith Hospital in December 1953. One child survived. In February 1955 news broke of the birth of craniophagus twins (joined at the head) in Keighley, West Yorkshire. Separation of the month-old girls was attempted at London's University College Hospital, but neither child survived.

Type
Articles
Information
Medical History , Volume 49 , Issue 2 , 01 April 2005 , pp. 197 - 212
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2005. Published by Cambridge University Press

References

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2 Y Michael Barilan, ‘Head counting vs heart counting: an examination of the recent case of the conjoined twins from Malta’, Perspect. Biol. Med., 2002, 45 (4): 593–603; C Myser and D L Clark, ‘“Fixing” Katie and Eilish: medical documentaries and the subjection of conjoined twins’, Lit. Med., 1998, 17: 45–67.

3 R Cooter, ‘The resistable rise of medical ethics’, Soc. Hist. Med., 1995, 8: 257–70.

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7 See, for example, D Miller and W Dinan, ‘The rise of the PR industry in Britain, 1979–1998’, Eur. J. Commun., 2000, 15: 5–35. Information on the development of PR in British medicine is contained in, K Loughlin, ‘Publicity as policy: the changing role of press and public relations at the BMA, 1940–1980’, in V Berridge (ed.), Making health policy: networks in research and policy after 1945, Amsterdam, Rodopi, forthcoming 2005, pp. 277–96.

8 On dissection as public spectacle, see R Richardson, Death, dissection and the destitute, London, Phoenix, 2001; on clinical showmanship, see A Winter, ‘Ethereal epidemic: mesmerism and the introduction of inhalation anaesthesia to early Victorian London’, Soc. Hist. Med., 1991, 4: 1–27.

9 Records of the Joint Conference of the Representatives of the Press and the Medical Profession, 1955–56, Archives of the British Medical Association, BMA House, London (hereafter Records of the Joint Conference). Aird's correspondence is contained in Exploratory meeting held 29th March 1955, notes for advance meeting of medical side (private and confidential), PR (press) B, summary of preceding events; PR (press) C3, comments and correspondence in press, British Medical Journal, Daily Telegraph 1955, general press comments, miscellaneous comment. ‘Press publicity’, letter from I Aird, Br. med. J., 1954, i: 153; ‘Doctors and the press’, letter from I Aird, Br. med. J., 1955, i: 1028–9; H McLeave, A time to heal: the life of Ian Aird, the surgeon, London, Heinemann, 1964.

10Fulham & Hammersmith Advertiser, Sat., 21 Nov. 1953, p. 1.

11Daily Sketch, Frid., 4 Dec. 1953, p. 1.

12 McLeave, op. cit., note 9 above, pp. 176–94.

13 Letter from I Aird, Br med. J., 1954, i: 153; ‘The press and the profession’, Br. med. J., 1954, i: 141–2.

14 R G Smith, ‘The development of ethical guidance for practitioners by the General Medical Council’, Med. Hist., 1993, 37: 56–67; A A G Morrice, ‘“The medical pundits”: doctors and indirect advertising in the lay press, 1922–1927’, Med. Hist., 1994, 38: 255–80.

15 A A G Morrice, ‘“Honour and interests”: medical ethics in Britain, the work of the British Medical Association's Central Ethical Committee, 1902–1939’, MD thesis, London University, 1999. See also, ‘Report of Council on indirect methods of advertising’, Br. med. J., 1953, i: supplement, pp. 126–8; and the Central Ethical Committee's discussion of the topic in, ‘Proceedings of Council’, Br. med. J., 1956, i: supplement, pp. 47–53, on pp. 49–51. On the embargo against advertising at this time in the North American context, see R L Martensen, ‘Physician advertising’, J. Am. Med. Assoc., 1994, 272: 1623.

16 These events are detailed in McLeave, op. cit., note 9 above, pp. 192–4, and in Records of Joint Conference, 29 March 1955, PR (press) B, summary of preceding events.

17 ‘Tragedy of the Siamese twins’, Daily Mirror, 26 Feb. 1955, press clipping contained in Records of the Joint Conference, PR (press) C3.

18 Records of the Joint Conference, 29 March 1955, PR (press) C3, general press content, 1955.

19 The BMA issued the invitation on 8 March 1955.

20 On John Pringle and the BMA press office at this time, see K Loughlin, ‘Your life in their hands: the context of a medical-media controversy’, Media Hist., 2000, 6: 177–88.

21Routine procedure for the release of information from hospitals, Ministry of Health circular number HM (56) 58. The text of this circular was printed in the British Medical Journal, ‘Doctors and the press, news about hospital patients’, Br. med. J., 1955, ii: supplement, pp. 100–2 ; see also ‘Hospitals and the press: recommended routine at hospitals, Monthly Circular of the Newspaper Society, Aug. 1956, pp. 197–8.

22Routine procedure, op. cit., note 21 above; ‘Doctors and the press’, Br. med. J., 1955, ii: supplement, p. 101.

23 McLeave, op. cit., note 9 above, p. 194.

24 Ibid., p. 193.

25 Records of the Joint Conference, 26 July 1955, Press 25–26 July and general memos.

26 I Aird letter to Br. med. J., 1954, i: 153, emphasis added.

27 Ibid.

28 Records of the Joint Conference, 12 July 1955, PR (press) 3, correspondence in The Times, ‘Profession and the press’, letter from R Forbes, Secretary of the Medical Defence Union, 1 March 1955.

29 McLeave, op. cit., note 9 above, p. 179.

30 Letter from John Pringle, The Times, 2 March 1955, p. 9.

31 ‘Press publicity’, letter from John Prince, Br. med. J., 1954, i: 216; ‘Doctors and the press’, letter from Alfred Byrne, Br. med. J., 1955, i: 791–2.

32 On the photographs, see McLeave, op. cit., note 9 above, p. 189, and Aird's response to medical correspondent Alfred Byrne, letter from I Aird, Br. med. J., 1955, i: 1028–9. Aird's off the record briefings of some journalists are also mentioned by R Bedford, science reporter for the Daily Mirror at the time of the Kano twins, R Bedford, ‘Medicine and the media: the need to strengthen the bridge’, J. R. Coll. Physicians Lond., 1979, 13: 7–14, p. 14.

33 On the magazine deal, see McLeave, op. cit., note 9 above, p.189, and Aird's response to Alfred Byrne, letter from I Aird, Br. med. J., 1955, i: 1028–9.

34 McLeave, op. cit., note 9 above, p. 184.

35 Ibid.

36 S Schofield and M Essex-Lopresti, ‘The conjoined twins of Kano’, Science and Film, 1954, 3: 19–23.

37 I Aird, ‘The conjoined twins of Kano’, Br. med. J., 1954, i: 831–7.

38 Records of the Joint Conference, 12 July 1955, PR (press) 20, report by Dr Armstrong (Brook Hospital).

39 David Vincent, The culture of secrecy: Britain, 1932–1998, Oxford University Press, 1998, p. 15.

40 ‘Doctors and the press’, explanatory memorandum, Br. med. J., 1955, ii: supplement, pp. 100–2, p. 101.

41 Ibid., p. 102.

42 ‘Press publicity’, letter from R Calder, Br. med. J., 1954, i: 271–2, p. 272.

43 ‘Press publicity’, letter from J Clapham Coates, Br. med. J., 1954, i: 518.

44 I Loudon, J Horder and C Webster (eds), General practice under the National Health Service, 1948–1997, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1998.

45 C Webster, The health services since the war, vol. 2: Government and health care, the National Health Service, 1958–1979, London, The Stationery Office, 1996; G Rivett, From cradle to grave: fifty years of the NHS, London, King's Fund, 1999.

46 C Webster, ‘Local government and health care: the historical perspective’, Br. med. J., 1995, 310: 1584–87.

47 Records of Joint Conference, 12 July 1955, PR (press) 4, Hospitals and the press, contains transcript of meeting with the press 29 March 1955, contribution by J L Palmer of the Newspaper Society.

48 Ibid., statement by D Prosser, Guild of British Newspaper Editors.

49 Records of the Joint Conference, 29 March 1955, Exploratory meeting held 29 March 1955, notes for advance meeting of medical side (private and confidential, PR (press) B, summary of preceding events, confidential report from a staff reporter.

50 ‘Doctors and the press, news about hospital patients’, Br. med. J., 1955, ii: supplement, p. 102.

51 Indeed, publicity was central to the old voluntary hospitals, see, for example, J E Stone, Appeals for funds and hospital publicity: a practical guide for hospitals and other charitable organisations, Birmingham, Birkbeck, 1934.

52 Report of BMA's CEC, including section on “professional secrecy”, where the ethical problems raised by government departments seeking access to medical records, ‘Medical ethics’, Br. med. J., 1951, i: supplement, pp. 260–1; see also ‘Professional secrecy’, Br. med. J., 1952, ii: supplement, pp. 52–3.

53 D Armstrong, ‘The doctor–patient relationship, 1930–80’, in P Wright and A Treacher (eds), The problem of medical knowledge: examining the social construction of medicine, Edinburgh University Press, 1982, pp. 109–22.

54 ‘Doctors on the air’, Br. med. J., 1956, i: 388–9, p. 235.

55 Letter from I Aird, Br. med. J., 1954, i: 153.

56 Report of Joint Conference, 12 July 1955, PR (press) 4, hospitals and the press, contains transcript of meeting with press 29 March 1955, contribution by G Dain.

57 Vincent, op. cit., note 39 above, p. 235.

58 Records of Joint Conference, PR (press) 4, Report of meeting 29 March 1955, statement by Dr Woolley.

59 On the development of specialist reporters covering medicine, see K Loughlin, ‘Networks of mass communication: reporting science, health and medicine from the 1950s to the 1970s’, in Berridge (ed.), op. cit., note 7 above, pp. 297–323.

60 T O'Malley, ‘Demanding accountability: the press, the Royal Commissions and the pressure for reform, 1945–77’, in M Bromley and H Stephenson (eds), Sex, lies and democracy: the press and the public, London, Longman, 1998, pp. 84–96.

61 The statement was issued on 8 March 1955, a copy is contained in the documentation of the Records of the Joint Conference, Exploratory meeting held 29 March 1955, notes for advance meeting of medical side (private and confidential) PR (press) 2: “[The Council] recognises that serious ethical questions are involved and favours the formulation of some common principles and policy in gathering and supplying news and photographs in medical cases”.

62 Records of the Joint Conference, Exploratory meeting held 29 March 1955, notes for advance meeting of medical side (private and confidential), PR (press) B, summary of preceding events; PR (press) C3, comments and correspondence in the press, British Medical Journal, The Times, Daily Telegraph, general press comment, miscellaneous: ‘Jackals of the Press’, letter to Daily Telegraph from Earl of Selborne, 11 March 1955.

63 Ibid., PR (press) C3, comments and correspondence in the press, correspondence in The Times, letter from Sir Linton Andrews, 3 March 1955.

64 Ibid., PR (press) C3, comments and correspondence in the press, correspondence in The Times, letter from L G Rule, Chair, London Branch of the National Union of Journalists, 5 March 1955; letter from Brian R Roberts, President, Institute of Journalists, 8 March 1955.

65 A McLaren, ‘Privileged communications: medical confidentiality in late Victorian Britain’, Med. Hist., 1993, 37: 129–47.

66 Cooter, op. cit., note 3 above, p. 262.

67 R Baker, D Porter and R Porter (eds), The codification of medical morality. Vol. 1: Medical ethics and etiquette in the eighteenth century, London, Kluwer Academic Press, 1993, p. 9.

68 ‘UK specialists to be allowed to advertise’, letter from L Beecham, Br. med. J., 1996, 313: 1226–27, p. 1227.

69 ‘Doctors and the press’, letter from W Edwards, Br. med. J., 1955, i: 791.

70 Armstrong, op. cit., note 53 above.

71 ‘Press publicity’, letter from S Swingler, Br. med. J., 1954, i: 644–5, p. 645, emphasis added.

72 Letter from D Morris, Br. med. J., 1954, i: 272.

73 K Loughlin, ‘Networks of mass communication: reporting science, health and medicine from the 1950s to the 1970s’, in Berridge (ed.), op. cit., note 7 above, pp. 297–323.

74 ‘Doctors and the press’, letter from A Byrne, Br. med. J., 1955, i: 791–2.

75 See, for example, R Silver (ed.) Health service public relations, a guide to good practice, London, King Edward's Hospital Fund, 1985. This text, which went to a second edition in 1995, reproduced the routine procedure as an appendix in the first edition.

76 M Howard, Victorian grotesque: an illustrated excursion into medical curiosities, freaks and abnormalities – principally of the Victorian age, London, Jupiter Books, 1977, p. 26. On Doyen see, R Didier, Le Docteur Doyen: chirurgien de la Belle Epoque, Paris, Maloine, 1962.