Death of doc in Aguirre twins operation mourned

“Irrespective of age, we mourn for those loved and lost. Mourning is one of the deepest expressions of pure love.”

—Russell M. Nelson

By Alex P. Vidal

THE Aguirre craniopagus conjoined twins—Clarence and Carl—of Silay, Negros Occidental wouldn’t have been separated if not for famed Dr. James T. Goodrich, a Bronx-based neurosurgeon who has died after being diagnosed with coronavirus.

The twins, now 18 years old, were accompanied by their mother, Arlene, when they left the Philippines in 2003.

After the successful operation, Clarence and Carl were brought to the Blythedale Children’s Hospital in Valhalla, New York for their post-operation rehabilitation.

They now live in a donated house in Westchester County’s town of Scarsdale, 25 miles away from the borough of Manhattan.

Craniopagus is conjoined twins fused in the cranium. There are 10 to 20 babies in one million in the United States with a case of craniopagus, it learned.

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Goodrich, 73, best remembered for performing a 17-hour operation of the Aguirre twins together with 16 other doctors at the Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, New York City in August 2004, succumbed March 30 after suffering complications due to COVID-19.

New Yorkers mourned Goodrich’s death, who was described as a “Renaissance doctor” by his colleagues from the Rockland Country Board of Health.

He joined other celebrities and famous Americans in the list of coronavirus-related casualties. Others were: playwright Terrence McNally, actor Mark Blum, chef Floyd Cardoz, “Star Wars” star Andrew Jack, actor Joe Diffie, musician Allan Merril, and singer Adam Schlesinger.

The success of Goodrich’s operation of the Aguirre twins became a worldwide sensation in 2004 and it competed with big events in that year in the Philippines.

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These events were: the 2004 Athens Olympics on August 13-29 where the Philippines suffered a dismal 0-0-0 medal drought; the violent onslaught of typhoons Unding, Violeta, Winnie, and Yoyong from Nov. 14-Dec. 4 where 1,060 Filipinos died; and the Indian Ocean tsunami on December 26 where 227,898 people were killed.

Goodrich also hogged the limelight when he operated for 27 hours another craniopagus conjoined twins, 13 months old Anias and Jason McDonald, in 2016 where he was assisted by 40 doctors in the same Bronx hospital.

Death rose to 4,500 in New York State with more than 200,000 cases. Of the 911 Americans who died Tuesday, 391 were from New York City, which has 83,712 cases and 1,942 deaths.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)