How the court ruled caesarean of Italian mother whose baby was snatched from the womb must be kept secret

• Girl was born to mother, who has bipolar disorder, by court-ordered caesarean 15 months ago
• Her Italian mother, 35, says she has suffered 'like an animal' at having child she wants to raise taken away from her

By VANESSA ALLEN

PUBLISHED: 01:29 GMT, 5 December 2013 | UPDATED: 01:30 GMT, 5 December 2013

 A secret court ruling in which a judge allowed doctors to sedate a pregnant woman to perform a caesarean without her consent was made public for the first time yesterday.

The extraordinary document shows how a judge approved an NHS trust’s plan.

A transcript of the hearing shows how Mr Justice Mostyn, who made the order, told the court: ‘She should not know about this order before she is taken and goes to hospital.’

The woman’s legally appointed representative replied: ‘My Lord, if it assists, it would be perfectly appropriate to include in the terms of the order that the substance of it shall not be communicated to the patient until after  . . . the operation. If she disagrees with it she can apply afterwards to discharge it.’

The judge replied: ‘Yes, that is right. So in those circumstances it is appropriate . . .’

He also authorised the use of ‘reasonable and proportionate force’ if needed.

Mr Justice Mostyn, sitting in the secretive Court of Protection, which makes decisions for incapacitated people, ruled the caesarean was in the woman’s best interests and that she was too mentally ill to make the decision herself.

But he said it would be ‘heavy-handed’ for police to take her baby at birth and suggested social workers should make a legal application to take the newborn into care instead.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2518507/How-court-ruled-caesarean-Italian-mother-baby-snatch...