Reports of "forced Caesarean section" probably far short of the whole truth

Reports of "forced Caesarean section" probably far short of the whole truth

There have been reports in the Sunday Telegraph that an Italian national was forced to undergo a Caesarean section. The report states that Essex Social Services obtained an order without the woman's knowledge, who was sedated and woke up to find she had had a Caesarean section. 

The full facts are yet to come out, but this scenario seems far-fetched as it has been reported. The case law is quite clear that performing a Caesarean section without the consent of a competent woman is illegal, being an unacceptable breach of bodily integrity and autonomy. 

A mother who required Caesarean section because of a needle phobia appealed against a High Court that permitted this treatment without her consent in Re MB (An Adult: Medical Treatment). The Appeal Court agreed that this was in her best interests, because the harm to her from a birth accident outweighed the harm from the giving of the anaesthetic.

In St Georges's NHS Trust v S, the refusal of a woman with pre-eclampsia to consent to Caesarean section was held to be valid, and the order of the High Court illegal. However irrational or "morally repugnant" the refusal to give consent, the competent adult's wishes to refuse treatment must be obeyed. The situation of pregnancy changes nothing, legally - the unborn child has no legal personality. 

One sympathizes with the trial judge, who had to make a decision in the face of lives being at stake. Nonetheless, women can be reassured by the thrust of the case law. So it seems reasonable to believe that there are significant details about the current case that we have not been told about.

Update: A response from Essex County Council fills in some of the details not included in the Telegraph report: http://www.essex.gov.uk/News/Pages/Essex-County-Council-responses-to-interest-in-story-headlined-Essex-removes-baby-from-mother.aspx In particular they state:
"Mother applied to Italian Courts for order to return the child to Italy in May 2013. Those courts ruled that child should remain in England"
and 
"Historically, the mother has two other children which she is unable to care for due to orders made by the Italian authorities. 

In accordance with Essex County Council's Social Services practice social workers liaised extensively with the extended family before and after the birth of the baby, to establish if anyone  could care for the child."