A 15-year-old girl in council care has given birth after a High Court judge ruled that doctors could perform a caesarean section against her will.
Mr Justice Poole considered the girl's case at an urgent hearing in the Family Division of the High Court earlier this week, where he heard that she was 35 weeks pregnant. A lawyer involved in the case told the PA news agency that the girl has now given birth, following a C-section, and said that mother and child were both well.
Lawyers who represented the doctors treating the teenager told the judge that she had a "needle phobia". They felt that a C-section was the "only option to ensure safe delivery", with specialists said to have concerns about the health of the baby.
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Mr Justice Poole said the girl could not be identified in media reports of the case and that the council responsible for the girl's care could not be named in case that led to her identification. Bosses at the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, which is based in Darlington, have responsibility for her medical treatment and had asked the judge to decide what moves were in her best interests.
Barrister Vikram Sachdeva KC, who led the trust's legal team, told the judge that the girl had a "significant psychiatric history" and had been "sexually exploited in the past". Mr Justice Poole concluded that a caesarean section was in the girl's best interests.
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