Owen and Emmett Ezell
Surgical separation of conjoined twins
Six-week-old Owen and Emmett Ezell, twin boys conjoined from the breastbone to the belly button, were successfully separated in a ten-hour surgery at Medical City Children’s Hospital in Dallas.
Medical City miracle
A team of surgeons and medical staff at Medical City Children’s Hospital in Dallas successfully separated conjoined twins Owen and Emmett Ezell on Saturday, Aug. 24, 2013.
Owen and Emmett were born joined from the breastbone to the belly button. The babies shared a liver and bowels. Among other health concerns, the babies were born with a birth defect called an omphalocele, a condition in which the infants’ intestines were outside of their bodies, covered only by a thin layer of tissue.
Owen and Emmett were delivered at Medical City on July 15 and were treated in the hospital’s Level IV neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) during the six weeks leading up to the surgery. At birth, they weighed a combined 11 pounds, 15 ounces. Just prior to surgery, they weighed more than 16 pounds.
Learn more about the Ezell twins and their family
- Associated Press Video: Conjoined Twins Separated at Dallas Hospital
- D Magazine: The Heroic Journey of Conjoined Twins Owen and Emmett
- Fox News Health: Conjoined twins separated at Dallas hospital in stable condition, doing well
- NBC DFW Channel 5: Conjoined Twins Separated After Surgery
- New York Daily News: Conjoined twin boys successfully separated at Dallas hospital
- UK Daily Mail: Six-week old twins born joined at the abdomen are successfully separated in nine-hour surgery
- USA Today: Conjoined twins separated at Dallas hospital