Vladimir Demikhov's Forceps

Origin
Vladimir P. Demikhov (1916–1998) was a Soviet scientist, and both a pioneer in and namer of the new field of transplantology. Though he is responsible for the world's first artificial heart, first heart-lung transplant, and first successful experimental coronary artery bypass operation - among many other medical firsts, and nearly all done despite the belief organ transplantation was impossible - he is probably most known for his experimentation in head transplantation. Beginning in 1954, Demikhov began creating two-headed dogs.

The most successful instance of this occured on April 11, 1959, when he grafted the upper half of another dog on the shoulders of German shepard Pirat. Pirat lived for three weeks, seven times longer than most of the other dogs, with both heads responsive and reacting to stimuli. News of this operation travelled faster than any of Demikhov's other experiments, gaining him international infamy.

Demikhov's ingenuity was not well-appreciated in his life. Demikhov's contributions to contemporary medical knowledge are largely unknown, because his papers were initially published behind Soviet borders. His most well-known operation outside of the Soviet Union was shocking and grisly. Furthermore, his proposal to open an organ-bank for future surgery patients was met with suspicion and cost him his credibility with the Soviet government. Nonetheless, without his work, medical knowledge would not be where it was today.

Effects
Imbued with Demikhov's dedication to understanding the limitations of organ transplant, his forceps gained the ability to fuse together any two multicellular organisms. Uninhibited contact with the forceps primes an organism to automatically fuse with the next unique creature they come into contact with. Though both organisms will survive the initial experience, the loss of limbs and/or functional organ systems that could occur in the fusion may cause one or both organisms to die.