By Richard Hartley-parkinson
Last updated at 3:20 PM on 16th March 2011
Mail Online UK
A baby girl has been kept away from her mother for almost five years after she refused to sign a form consenting to a Caesarean section - even though she did not end up needing to have the operation.
The extraordinary case began after staff at a New Jersey hospital claimed that refusal to give permission for the procedure amounted to child abuse.
The agonising decision triggered a protracted legal battle which has led to the mother being separated from her child for five years.
The woman, known only as VM, launched an appeal after authorities took her baby away from her immediately after the birth in 2006 at St Barnabas Hospital in New Jersey.
The first appeal failed but she was given a ray of hope when a higher court ruled in her favour.
The case is now waiting to go back to the lower court which is yet to make a decision.
The hospital said that her refusal to give permission for the C-section amounted to child abuse and thus reported her to welfare authorities.
This was despite VM saying that she would agree to the operation if it became necessary and going on to deliver a healthy baby. FULL STORY
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