Doctors Sedate Pregnant Woman,Operate And Remove Her Baby Without Her Consennt

Social services forcibly removed a pregnant woman's unborn baby by caesarean section and put it up for adoption after obtaining a high court order on the grounds the mother had suffered a mental breakdown.

Essex council obtained an order allowing them to sedate the woman against her will before taking her daughter and placing it into care.

The Italian woman, who was in Britain on a work training course, claims she had not even been warned that she would be given a caesarean. It is not believed a natural birth would have posed a risk to her or the child's health.

Social workers argue they were acting in the best interests of the baby, who is now 15 months old, and are refusing to hand her back to the mother despite claims that she has made a complete recovery, The Sunday Telegraph reports.

Brendan Fleming, the woman’s British lawyer, told the newspaper: 'I have never heard of anything like this in all my 40 years in the job.

'I can understand if someone is very ill that they may not be able to consent to a medical procedure, but a forced caesarean is unprecedented.

'If there were concerns about the care of this child by an Italian mother, then the better plan would have been for the authorities here to have notified social services in Italy and for the child to have been taken back there.'

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, reportedly suffered a panic attack while staying at a hotel which her relatives believe was a result of her failing to take medication for a pre-existing bi-polar condition.

She called the police and was taken to a psychiatric hospital where she was sectioned under the mental health act.

The baby was born five weeks later after which the mother returned to Italy.

The case has since escalated into an international legal row with an Italian High Court judge questioning whether British care proceedings should have been applied to the child of an Italian citizen.

In February the mother requested the return of her daughter at a hearing at Chelmsford Crown Court.

Despite hearing that she had resumed taking her medication, the judge ruled the baby should be placed up for adoption because of the risk that the mother might suffer a relapse.