In the year 2000, the news about a conjoined twin spread around the world, the twins the media chose to name Mary and Jodie so as to protect their real identity.
Having seen the critical condition of the twins, the doctors advised that it would be better to kill one of the twins so as to save one. Jodie is the stronger twin and has a high chance of survival but Mary is the weaker one with a slim chance of survival. The dilemma being that if they are both left conjoined they will both die and it is the professional advice of the doctors that surgery should be carried out to save Jodie the stronger twin but Mary will likely die.
The parents of the twins protested against this advice. The parents said that they could not allow any of the twins to be sacrificed for the other and that if the both twins cannot survive separation surgery the doctors should not carry it out.
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The matter was tabled before the court and the core issue for determination was can the court allow one person to be killed or sacrificed in order to save the other person. Can the court give an order permitting the doctors to carry out the surgery that will lead to the immediate death of Mary for the survival of Jodie?
In delivering judgment, Lord Justice Brooke declared the situation as one of necessity and called for the allowance of a lesser evil. The court being the court of law and not the court of morality can make judgments out of necessity allowing the option of lesser evil for the greater good. The lesser evil being that it is better for the weaker twin to be sacrificed for the survival of the stronger twin instead of allowing both of the twins to die which will be the case if the surgery is not immediately carried out.
One of the Justices also hinted that despite the wishes of the parents of letting their twins be instead of separating and killing one, the children’s interest is paramount and supersedes the wishes of the parents.
The court therefore gave the go-ahead for the doctors to carry out the surgery. After the surgery, as anticipated, Mary, the weaker twin died but Jodie was saved.
This case gave rise to the philosophical debates that demonstrate the relationship between law and morality in today’s legal jurisprudence.