
Exclusive: Essex social services have obtained a court order against a woman that allowed her to be forcibly sedated and for her child to be taken from her womb by caesarean section
The case has developed into an international legal row, with lawyers for the woman describing it as ?unprecedented?
A pregnant woman has had her baby forcibly removed by caesarean section by social workers.
Essex social services obtained a High Court order against the woman that allowed her to be forcibly sedated and her child to be taken from her womb.
The council said it was acting in the best interests of the woman, an Italian who was in Britain on a work trip, because she had suffered a mental breakdown.
The baby girl, now 15 months old, is still in the care of social services, who are refusing to give her back to the mother, even though she claims to have made a full recovery.
The case, reported by Christopher Booker in his column in The Sunday Telegraph, raises fresh questions about the extent of social workers? powers.
It will be raised in Parliament this week by John Hemming, a Liberal Democrat MP. He chairs the Public Family Law Reform Coordinating Campaign, which wants reform and greater openness in court proceedings involving family matters.
He said: ?I have seen a number of cases of abuses of people?s rights in the family courts, but this has to be one of the more extreme.
?It involves the Court of Protection authorising a caesarean section without the person concerned being made aware of what was proposed. I worry about the way these decisions about a person?s mental capacity are being taken without any apparent concern as to the effect on the individual being affected.?
The woman, who says she was kept in the dark about the proceedings, says that after five weeks in the ward she was forcibly sedated. When she woke up she was told that the child had been delivered by C-section and taken into care.
An Essex county council spokesman said the local authority would not comment on ongoing cases involving vulnerable people and children.
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/10486452/Child-taken-from-womb-by-social-services.html
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