NYC Doctor Who Separated Conjoined Twins Dies Of Coronavirus
NEW YORK CITY — A New York City neurosurgeon who made medical history when he separated two infant twins with intertwined brains died from novel coronavirus, Montefiore Hospital announced.
Dr. James T. Goodrich, pediatric neurosurgery chief at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, died from COVID-19 complications Monday morning, hospital officials confirmed.
"Our beloved colleague, mentor, teacher, brother-in-arms passed away early this morning," the hospital wrote in a tweet.
"As a last act of service to others, he will forever remind us that Covid-19 is not a faceless disease. He will always be in our hearts."
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The hospital did not immediately respond to Patch's request for more information.
Goodrich earned worldwide acclaim in 2017 when he famously separated Anias and Jadon McDonald, cranially conjoined 13-month-old boys, during a 27-hour long surgery.
Years later, their mom Nicole McDonald cried in a video interview as she described Goodrich and what his expertise and dedication meant for her family.
"I was told their was no chance that I would have a child," McDonald said, noting both the boys were attending school. "It's what you dream of, I guess."
Goodrich used his skill at separating cranially conjoined twins — which relied on virtual planning and 3D printing technologies — to help families from across the globe.
Goodrich separated Filipino twins Clarence and Carl Aguirre in 2004 and, as CBS News reported, the boys celebrated their 10th birthdays in Scarsdale in 2014.
"When they were born, the doctors at home told me, 'You have to choose which one is to live,'" their mother, Arlene Aguirre, said. "The doctors here did not ask me to choose."
More recently, Goodrich helped separate twin girls Ysabelle and Ysadora Freitas, from Ceará, Brazil in 2019.
"They were born again," their mother Débora Freitas said at the time. "First by me, second by the doctors. I am so happy, I’m going to jump and my heart is going to explode."
Goodrich is a graduate of the University of California, Irvine, Columbia University and completed his residency at Presbyterian Hospital in New York City and the New York Neurological Institute.
This article originally appeared on the New York City Patch
