The "Doctor's" presumption that twins, naturally born to be in an environment with a sibling, are better off separate is a sick and elitist proposition. The ethics and consideration poured into this human experiment is kin to the Forbidden Experiment by Frederick II who also played God with the lives of children. His excuse of scientific consensus is poor and juvenile, as if throwing rocks at passing cars because his friends told him it was ok. The most worth while lesson was how Paula and Elyse approached the Doctor without anger and a reserved nature in spite of his inhuman judgment.

Sent by Mito Farley | 12:17 AM ET | 10-26-2007

I am a simultaneous-identical twin. This means that my brother and I were situated chin-under-chin in the womb: one of us was breach because of this. At birth, my brother's feet came out first, followed by both of our heads, then the rest of me. Our heads entered this world at the same time. We each weighed 4 lbs and we were six weeks early. We were born in London, England while our father was in the Air Force during Vietnam War and came back to the states after our first year. Originally, we only had one birth certificate with both our names on it and one time. We are also Gemini. We spent the next seventeen years living in the same room, and much of our early years in the same bed. Our rearing years were difficult for many reasons outside our control: divorce, addictions, abuse, financial hardship, you get the picture. I believe the only way we made it through these times was because we always had each other. There was never a feeling of being alone. My point is that, in my opinion, my relationship with my brother is as close as any two people can get. I've never met anyone else that seemed to have the connection that we have. The uniqueness of Identical twins is special, no question. I think it should be studied for many reasons. If everyone had the connection that twins have, we would all get along much better. Not perfect, but immensely better. I don't fault Dr. Frederick for doing the experiment. It's difficult to comprehend this strange bond two people who share the same DNA. While the idea that twins should be raised separately is ludicrous to me, I understand how non-twin scientist would be intrigued into thinking that he can fully comprehend nature. Nature-vs-Nuture to me is simple commen sense, regardless if you are talking twins, siblings, cousins, or stangers. The fact that Dr. Frederick makes no apologies for the experiment itself I can accept. It was done with good intentions and not meant to harm but to learn something vital about our beings. However, for the doctor not to acknowledge the harm that was done to his subjects is very un-nurturing and hurtful. Un-twin-like in my opinion. Perhaps he missed the main point of his experiment.

Sent by Darren Fuller | 9:57 AM ET | 10-26-2007

It is beyond belief that the psychologist does not now admit the error of his ways in doing this nazi experiment. He should have at least apologized to the Twins for his hubris. I cried during the whole piece. It occurred to me how wonderful it would be to have had a twin to share life's vicissitudes.

Sent by John J. Weigel MD | 2:07 PM ET | 10-26-2007

Being a father of Twins myself, your peace caught my attention and could not believe what I was hearing. The so-called experiment was beyond belief and non-sense. He robbed their childhood and the best part of their life. Probably he may not understand it . The least he can do is to acknowledge that it was a mistake.

Sent by Alex Awoke | 3:08 PM ET | 10-26-2007

I was angered by the cavalier attitude of Drs. Bernard and Neubauer. I would think the twins could gain access to the data stored in the Archives at Yale. If any federal funds were used to support the study they may be able to gain access through the Freedom of Information Act.

Sent by Sessa Moran | 7:55 PM ET | 10-26-2007

To do this to twin infants for the purpose of a psychological experiment is every bit as ethically challenged and criminal as were the Tuskeegee syphilis experiments between 1932 - 1972. What Drs. Bernard & Neubauer did is reprehensible and without justification. It may not have involved the same physical horrors as the experiments performed by the Nazi concentration camp doctors, but it certainly encompasses psychological cruelty and ethical lapses of the same scale.

Separating siblings at birth to treat them as lab animals has some dangerous karma attached to it. These type of Doctors are, unfortunately, fairly prevalent in the practice of mainstream medicine in this country. They make it far harder for Doctors who actually care about human beings and work at healing people to be trusted in what they do.

How many twin babies have been separated at birth because of these physicians? What happened to "First, Do No Harm"?

Sent by Christiane Sauter RN BSN CCM | 8:04 PM ET | 10-27-2007

Their is no polite way to put it: Dr. Fredrick is a coward.

Forgeting the obvious arrogance of the experiement, if he truly had the strength of his convictions, then the results of the study would be published. Instead, the impact on the twins lives for the sake of science is lost forever and meaningless.

Sent by Derek Andrews | 8:33 AM ET | 10-28-2007

I am a fraternal twin and, like other commenters on this blog, did better in life because of our twin-bond.

At least let us study the information gained by this "experiment." Don't lock the information in a drawer because it is controversial. The harm was done, don't let it be completely in vain.

Sent by Colleen | 1:26 PM ET | 10-29-2007

After reading this article, I feel sad because I lost a twin brother when I was little. I am only turning 18 years old now and I often think about how life would be if he was alive. I came upon this article when doing research for a paper on Nature vs Nurture. I feel bad for these two woman becuase they had no choice in the matter and lived a large part of their lives unconsicously missing eachother. I think although it was cruel experiment, Dr.Neubauer was thinking more scientifcally than humanely. Not having a twin is missing your other half and to grow up feeling like that and not knowing what the reason must been horrible.

Sent by Jane | 1:14 AM ET | 01-22-2008

I am the adoptive mother and maternal aunt of a fraternal twin boy. He is now 7 months old. The birth mother(my sister) refused to let me adopt his twin sister. I am now in the battle of a lifetime, fighting against an adoption agency and adoptive family that are millionaires. We just had the hearing two days ago and no decision yet from the judge. My attorney had an expert witness present who testified to the studies mentioned in this article and he did acknowledge that the information for the studies was obtained unethically, but these studies may in fact make sure that twins are not seperated in the future. It is very hard to see the good in such evil things in life. I pray to God that the judge makes the right decisison in this case and keeps these twins together. I would liek to ask everyone out there to pray about this situation for our family and for the future of other families who will go through this same situation. I feel so horrible when I think there is a possiblity that my son will grow up without knowing his twin sister. He is developing very well, but his twin sister is not. She has been passed aorund in the foster care system and is showing detachment issues. Please pray for us, so that God will deliver her home to us. Thank you.

Sent by Amanda | 10:19 AM ET | 03-20-2008