Reportedly, this infant was born dead at Niles Pawating Hospital, in Niles, Michigan. It was a small community hospital; in 1961, it had only 174 beds. There is no known record to substantiate the existence of this infant. The medical records of the mother are not accessible and probably no longer exist. The surviving twin's birth certificate lists her as a single birth.
The physician who delivered the dead infant was Dr. John C. Strayer, a 62-year-old general practice M.D. With him in the delivery room was a nurse whom he called "Slipper." Slipper was privately employed by the physician; she was his office nurse and also assisted him at hospital births. Other than the birthing mother, it is believed that only Dr. Strayer and his nurse were in the room.
The mother was a 29-year-old, high-school educated, married woman who had previously birthed two children; Dr. Strayer had attended those deliveries. The father was not in the delivery room; he was a 32-year-old employed, World War II veteran with some college education who was becoming a father for the first time. The mother's older children had been born to a prior marriage; this was the father's first marriage and his first child.
The mother was "knocked out" (her words) by the nurse when the physician believed birth was imminent. The mother reported that she did not immediately become completely unconscious and that she was able to hear things. She heard the physician say to his nurse, "Well, Slipper, I told you there were two." And then the mother went completely unconscious and heard no more.
The mother was in a bed in another room when she regained consciousness. A hospital nurse brought a newborn girl to the mother. The mother asked the nurse, "Where's the other one?" The nurse asked what the mother meant. The mother said, "I heard the doctor say that I delivered two." The nurse said that she did not know what the mother meant and that she would speak with the doctor.
The doctor appeared in the mother's room and said, "Just be happy with the one you have." Outside the mother's room, the doctor told the father, "The other one was a boy. He was not fully formed."
Strangely, the parents did not ask to see the dead infant, and the doctor did not offer to let the parents see the dead infant. There is no known record to prove the story that the two parents told well into old age.
Fifty years after the day when the mother heard the doctor say, "Well, Slipper, I told you there were two," the parents told that story one more time to the twin they took home from the hospital. The parents separately and together told the story of the dead twin to all of their close relatives, repeatedly, over a span of decades.
However, there is no record of the infant's existence, and there is no proof of what happened to the body. The conclusion is that the dead body would have been discarded as hospital waste, along with other contents expelled from the mother's uterus during the birth.
The mother reported seeing the physician only once after leaving the hospital, for a check-up a few weeks after birth. She arrived for her appointment just as the doctor was leaving for an emergency call to the hospital. They saw each other only in passing. The mother never again saw the doctor.
At that time in Michigan, by law, a death certificate was to be issued for a baby that was stillborn at 20 weeks and beyond. The mother became so large during the pregnancy that the father unbolted the seat-glides on the car and moved them back so that the mother had room to sit behind the steering wheel. The situation and the facts as known leave unanswered questions.
NOTE: Twin of page creator.
The physician who delivered the dead infant was Dr. John C. Strayer, a 62-year-old general practice M.D. With him in the delivery room was a nurse whom he called "Slipper." Slipper was privately employed by the physician; she was his office nurse and also assisted him at hospital births. Other than the birthing mother, it is believed that only Dr. Strayer and his nurse were in the room.
The mother was a 29-year-old, high-school educated, married woman who had previously birthed two children; Dr. Strayer had attended those deliveries. The father was not in the delivery room; he was a 32-year-old employed, World War II veteran with some college education who was becoming a father for the first time. The mother's older children had been born to a prior marriage; this was the father's first marriage and his first child.
The mother was "knocked out" (her words) by the nurse when the physician believed birth was imminent. The mother reported that she did not immediately become completely unconscious and that she was able to hear things. She heard the physician say to his nurse, "Well, Slipper, I told you there were two." And then the mother went completely unconscious and heard no more.
The mother was in a bed in another room when she regained consciousness. A hospital nurse brought a newborn girl to the mother. The mother asked the nurse, "Where's the other one?" The nurse asked what the mother meant. The mother said, "I heard the doctor say that I delivered two." The nurse said that she did not know what the mother meant and that she would speak with the doctor.
The doctor appeared in the mother's room and said, "Just be happy with the one you have." Outside the mother's room, the doctor told the father, "The other one was a boy. He was not fully formed."
Strangely, the parents did not ask to see the dead infant, and the doctor did not offer to let the parents see the dead infant. There is no known record to prove the story that the two parents told well into old age.
Fifty years after the day when the mother heard the doctor say, "Well, Slipper, I told you there were two," the parents told that story one more time to the twin they took home from the hospital. The parents separately and together told the story of the dead twin to all of their close relatives, repeatedly, over a span of decades.
However, there is no record of the infant's existence, and there is no proof of what happened to the body. The conclusion is that the dead body would have been discarded as hospital waste, along with other contents expelled from the mother's uterus during the birth.
The mother reported seeing the physician only once after leaving the hospital, for a check-up a few weeks after birth. She arrived for her appointment just as the doctor was leaving for an emergency call to the hospital. They saw each other only in passing. The mother never again saw the doctor.
At that time in Michigan, by law, a death certificate was to be issued for a baby that was stillborn at 20 weeks and beyond. The mother became so large during the pregnancy that the father unbolted the seat-glides on the car and moved them back so that the mother had room to sit behind the steering wheel. The situation and the facts as known leave unanswered questions.
NOTE: Twin of page creator.
Reportedly, this infant was born dead at Niles Pawating Hospital, in Niles, Michigan. It was a small community hospital; in 1961, it had only 174 beds. There is no known record to substantiate the existence of this infant. The medical records of the mother are not accessible and probably no longer exist. The surviving twin's birth certificate lists her as a single birth.
The physician who delivered the dead infant was Dr. John C. Strayer, a 62-year-old general practice M.D. With him in the delivery room was a nurse whom he called "Slipper." Slipper was privately employed by the physician; she was his office nurse and also assisted him at hospital births. Other than the birthing mother, it is believed that only Dr. Strayer and his nurse were in the room.
The mother was a 29-year-old, high-school educated, married woman who had previously birthed two children; Dr. Strayer had attended those deliveries. The father was not in the delivery room; he was a 32-year-old employed, World War II veteran with some college education who was becoming a father for the first time. The mother's older children had been born to a prior marriage; this was the father's first marriage and his first child.
The mother was "knocked out" (her words) by the nurse when the physician believed birth was imminent. The mother reported that she did not immediately become completely unconscious and that she was able to hear things. She heard the physician say to his nurse, "Well, Slipper, I told you there were two." And then the mother went completely unconscious and heard no more.
The mother was in a bed in another room when she regained consciousness. A hospital nurse brought a newborn girl to the mother. The mother asked the nurse, "Where's the other one?" The nurse asked what the mother meant. The mother said, "I heard the doctor say that I delivered two." The nurse said that she did not know what the mother meant and that she would speak with the doctor.
The doctor appeared in the mother's room and said, "Just be happy with the one you have." Outside the mother's room, the doctor told the father, "The other one was a boy. He was not fully formed."
Strangely, the parents did not ask to see the dead infant, and the doctor did not offer to let the parents see the dead infant. There is no known record to prove the story that the two parents told well into old age.
Fifty years after the day when the mother heard the doctor say, "Well, Slipper, I told you there were two," the parents told that story one more time to the twin they took home from the hospital. The parents separately and together told the story of the dead twin to all of their close relatives, repeatedly, over a span of decades.
However, there is no record of the infant's existence, and there is no proof of what happened to the body. The conclusion is that the dead body would have been discarded as hospital waste, along with other contents expelled from the mother's uterus during the birth.
The mother reported seeing the physician only once after leaving the hospital, for a check-up a few weeks after birth. She arrived for her appointment just as the doctor was leaving for an emergency call to the hospital. They saw each other only in passing. The mother never again saw the doctor.
At that time in Michigan, by law, a death certificate was to be issued for a baby that was stillborn at 20 weeks and beyond. The mother became so large during the pregnancy that the father unbolted the seat-glides on the car and moved them back so that the mother had room to sit behind the steering wheel. The situation and the facts as known leave unanswered questions.
NOTE: Twin of page creator.
The physician who delivered the dead infant was Dr. John C. Strayer, a 62-year-old general practice M.D. With him in the delivery room was a nurse whom he called "Slipper." Slipper was privately employed by the physician; she was his office nurse and also assisted him at hospital births. Other than the birthing mother, it is believed that only Dr. Strayer and his nurse were in the room.
The mother was a 29-year-old, high-school educated, married woman who had previously birthed two children; Dr. Strayer had attended those deliveries. The father was not in the delivery room; he was a 32-year-old employed, World War II veteran with some college education who was becoming a father for the first time. The mother's older children had been born to a prior marriage; this was the father's first marriage and his first child.
The mother was "knocked out" (her words) by the nurse when the physician believed birth was imminent. The mother reported that she did not immediately become completely unconscious and that she was able to hear things. She heard the physician say to his nurse, "Well, Slipper, I told you there were two." And then the mother went completely unconscious and heard no more.
The mother was in a bed in another room when she regained consciousness. A hospital nurse brought a newborn girl to the mother. The mother asked the nurse, "Where's the other one?" The nurse asked what the mother meant. The mother said, "I heard the doctor say that I delivered two." The nurse said that she did not know what the mother meant and that she would speak with the doctor.
The doctor appeared in the mother's room and said, "Just be happy with the one you have." Outside the mother's room, the doctor told the father, "The other one was a boy. He was not fully formed."
Strangely, the parents did not ask to see the dead infant, and the doctor did not offer to let the parents see the dead infant. There is no known record to prove the story that the two parents told well into old age.
Fifty years after the day when the mother heard the doctor say, "Well, Slipper, I told you there were two," the parents told that story one more time to the twin they took home from the hospital. The parents separately and together told the story of the dead twin to all of their close relatives, repeatedly, over a span of decades.
However, there is no record of the infant's existence, and there is no proof of what happened to the body. The conclusion is that the dead body would have been discarded as hospital waste, along with other contents expelled from the mother's uterus during the birth.
The mother reported seeing the physician only once after leaving the hospital, for a check-up a few weeks after birth. She arrived for her appointment just as the doctor was leaving for an emergency call to the hospital. They saw each other only in passing. The mother never again saw the doctor.
At that time in Michigan, by law, a death certificate was to be issued for a baby that was stillborn at 20 weeks and beyond. The mother became so large during the pregnancy that the father unbolted the seat-glides on the car and moved them back so that the mother had room to sit behind the steering wheel. The situation and the facts as known leave unanswered questions.
NOTE: Twin of page creator.
