Siamese twins and Social Welfare

fasttalkerchat

Should a Siamese twin get a separate allowance for each twin?

My opinion:
Yes because there are two brains and therefore two separate identities.

Argument against:
They share the same house, some eat the same food (have one stomach), always travel together... basically all expenses are shared.

Discuss.

1ZRed

Well this is a delightful spin on the tired aul AH social welfare thread!

Gatling

That would be a interesting ,two claims for disability allowance and Two carers allowance yet a shared body ,

1ZRed

^^^ Go on lads, try your luck with it!

Edit: Bastard deleted your double post

kneemos

I'm not my brothers keeper.

Lapin

Siamese Cats are vicious little fúckers.

Nothing to do with two headed people or social welfare but important to know all the same.

fasttalkerchat

I was actually thinking about Siamese twins and the census. Should they each fill it in as separate people since they do not need duplicated services. Eg. only one school place is needed for two of them.

Then I thought I'd relate it to AH by throwing in Social Welfare.

Ruudi_Mentari

1, for the price of 2?

only if there's a chink in the system

kneemos

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

I was actually thinking about Siamese twins and the census. Should they each fill it in as separate people since they do not need duplicated services. Eg. only one school place is needed for two of them.

Then I thought I'd relate it to AH by throwing in Social Welfare.

Or if one commits a crime how do you sentence.

orestes

2 seperate minds means 2 seperate people. There have been cases of conjoined twins marrying after all, so they are legally two distinct individuals. The what-ifs about one committing a crime always make for interesting thought experiments though, although I don't think a court case has ever arisen despite trying to find one after watching QI.

Vito Corleone

Best thread ever!

fasttalkerchat

kneemos wrote: »

Or if one commits a crime how do you sentence.

Actually that happened and they were set free:

Chang and Eng Bunker were Siamese twins. Chang was once convicted of general assault on a member of the audience during one of the twins' variety acts. However, the judge in the case could not hold Eng in prison as well, so he set them both free. The Bunkers created the term "Siamese twins" for people who are conjoined, because they were originally from Siam. They lived till the age of 63 and married a pair of sisters and had 21 children between them. On the journey from Siam, one of the twins wanted a cold bath and the other didn't, so the captain had to separate them. Chang was a drunk and died first, so Eng woke up waiting for a doctor to separate them. Eng then died an hour later as he wrapped himself round his twin. It is believed he died from a broken heart, because he had no reason to die.

Could one be convicted for aiding and abetting because he did not call the police on his other?

orestes

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

Actually that happened and they were set free:


Could one be convicted for aiding and abetting because he did not call the police on his other?

That was never documented from what I found, more like an urban myth/folk legend kind of thing, and one of them couldn't have been a drunk because they shared a liver. I think it was just a good PR story.

fasttalkerchat

orestes wrote: »

That was never documented from what I found, more like an urban myth/folk legend kind of thing, and one of them couldn't have been a drunk because they shared a liver. I think it was just a good PR story.

They didn't actually share a liver. They each had a liver but they were fused.
About the court case.
Here's one original paper: http://www.rarenewspapers.com/view/545507

There were several different incidents. A modern account of another incident:

they were fined $15 and costs at Rockford, the county seat, for splitting a board into splinters over the head of a man who had insulted them.

HandsomeJonny

Just when I thought I had heard all dole arguments.

KTRIC

What if they were conjoined twins and one needed a wheelchair, would they both be entitled to a disability allowance?

Gordon

What if they were conjoined twins, one of which had a well paid job in Hollywood as a stuntman, but the other claimed disability while rearing 20 children in a mansion paid for by the taxpayer?

kneemos

KTRIC wrote: »

What if they were conjoined twins and one needed a wheelchair, would they both be entitled to a disability allowance?

Disability would be a given either way I'd imagine however if they did get a job would they be taxed seperately?