Medicine: Correcting Nature's Error

When Phillip was born in the West Texas town of Kermit (pop. 7,000), doctors soon saw that nature had made a series of deadly mistakes. Milk could not reach the baby's stomach, because his gullet came to a dead end in the upper chest. He had no anal opening (the lower colon wound itself into another dead end). Furthermore, both kidneys were on the right side, and one did not work. Surgeons at nearby Odessa made a temporary opening into Phillip's stomach so he could be fed, and another opening in the lower bowel...