Inquest of Joined Twins Sees Video

The doctor who operated on Iranian conjoined twins defended the surgery that killed them by showing the inquest yesterday a video in which the sisters insist that he continue.

Keith Goh told the hearing in Singapore how he repeatedly warned the sisters, Ladan and Laleh Bijani, who were joined at the head, of the dangers. "You could die from the operation," he said. He said they could be paralysed or left in a coma. They could live conjoined for a further 20 years, he said.

Dr Goh said that if something went wrong the team could stop the operation. "No, go on," Ladan said. Dr Goh said: "One may die." Ladan said: "I know, God will help."

It was a series of dormant blood vessels, undetected beforehand, that was one of the main causes for the surgery ending in their deaths, the inquest heard yesterday. The vessels were only seen when the 29-year-old sisters were 90% apart. Dr Goh added: "We felt we were at the point of no return. Continuing was the only chance we had to ... save the lives of the girls."

The three-day inquest will assess whether or not the 28 doctors and more than 100 medical staff were negligent during the 50-hour operation.

An Iranian doctor, Alireza Safaian, who adopted and raised the twins, has accused the team of killing the women.

One witness expected to corroborate Dr Goh's account is Benjamin Carson, from the Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, who may say the twins' friends insisted the surgeons continue even when it was clear one woman at least was very likely to die.