Patrick and Benjamin Binder were the first twins Ben separated. Conjoined twins are only born once out of 200,000 births, and only two percent are craniopagus, or joined at the head, like the Binder twins. This makes surgeries on them very rare, and surgeons with experience even more uncommon.
The boys were born on February 2, 1987, and went into surgery seven months later on Labor Day, 1987. For four hours, surgeons worked on separating them. When this was accomplished, the boys were put into medically induced comas. Although now apart, they were in danger of disability because of the swelling and time without blood flow.
As time past, it became noticeable that the boys weren’t passing certain milestones other babies were. Neither boy could get around on his own or feed himself. Benjamin could moan, but Patrick was completely silent. They eventually became wards of the state when they were brought to a home for disabled children.
Despite being the first to be separated, the surgery wasn’t a complete success because the Binder Twins were left severely disabled. Ben still became famous for it, and went on to separate many more craniopagus twins.