• Italian woman claims she was not warned  she would be given a ceasarean
• Essex council obtained order allowing  them to  sedate her against her will
• The case has now escalated into an  international legal row

By  Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 19:39 EST, 30  November 2013 |  UPDATED: 21:45 EST, 30 November 2013

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.

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