Baby Born With 12 Fingers and Toes

Er, that should be "polydactyly" (with a "c" in there).

Indeed...
fixed.

"Hello. My name is Innigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

I'd have to do a lot of thinking before I would amputate a child's fingers and toes, unless there was some medical reason.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8krqp8NvIM

if the extra digits are functional I see no reason to amputate them. I could use an extra finger on each hand

I agree - if the extra digits are functional, I see no reason to amputate them either!

Has anyone considered that this could be the next step in evolution?

Kid'll count in base 12.

I also agree. Why make him suffer to conform? Poor sweet baby. :(

Meh. Doctors and parents do this all the time with intersex children. :( I agree, I want to know the medical basis for removing them. I can see 'They will get infected and gangenous and kill the child', but I don't buy into 'OMG he'll be a fr34k!!1!'

Ahem, I think you'll find that the trait is more common among people of African descent.

Genetics is not interested in the latest name for Black citizens of the USA.

See Africans aren't African Americans, they are....yeah you got it...Africans.

Not absolutely everything in the world revolves around the USA you know.

The original article referenced deals with a baby born in Brooklyn and supplies US stats. The links in the above article give a more global view.

Also, just for the record, I am not an American.

Thanks for the article and commentary. I found this site, as I am searching... my son was born today here in Japan, with 6 toes on one of his feet. I agree the comments here, unless there is a medical reason to remove his extra toe, his mother and I think he's special to have it. As for heredity, neither his mother or I have extra digits, nor do we know anyone in our family that does at this point. Thank you again for the viewpoints/comments.

If the extras are present and fully functiosnal on all four limbs, why bother remsving them? They may be useful. Surely it should be the child's decision when he is old enough to decide.

i dont now y ppl amputate their babies fingers they were born lyk dat oh well god wanted them to be born lyk dat i will agree if the finger is infected so jst chop it of.

I was born with 12 toes. I went most of my life hating my feet, until recently. I still don't necessarily like them, which is ashame, because my feet don't look all that bad. The parents are right to amputate them righat away. I didn't get my extra toes amputated until the age of 7, and it turned out to be the worst decision, because it stunted the growth of my baby toes! Also, the scarring left from waiting until I was older was much, much more noticeable, than had my parents just done it when I was a baby. I wish my parents had consider how being born with an extra toe on each foot would effect me and done the surgery when I was a baby instead. The pain and suffering from four foot surgeries total, as opposed to one simple foot surgery as a baby could have been avoided.

I guess with feet it would be more difficult to live since humans wear shoes or some sort of covering on their soles almost all the time when they are outside. But 12 working fingers sound like a great idea!