(MENAFN- Gulf Times) A Spanish hospital where a British woman claimed she was separated from her newborn daughter after doctors expressed doubts she was the mother followed protocol in the best interests of the baby, it has been claimed.
Stacie Cottle, a 27-year-old dental nurse from London, is considering taking legal action against the Comarcal de la Axarqu?a hospital near Malaga.
Cottle claims she was only allowed limited, supervised contact with her daughter, Anzelika, for three weeks pending DNA results to prove she was the mother.
Cottle, of British Caribbean origin, has said she feared her treatment was influenced by race after she went into early labour at 36 weeks, giving birth in her mother's new flat in a village about 30 miles from Malaga. But a spokesman for the Andalusia regional health authority said Cottle's behaviour when she presented at the hospital with the baby two days after the birth had raised concerns about the child's welfare.
"The doctor who attended to her started to ask her questions, about when
she gave birth and other questions in the established protocol for when a person doesn't give birth in a public hospital," he said. The woman left the building with the baby after being told by a doctor that she and the newborn would have to kept in the hospital, he said.
In line with protocol, the doctor then called the police to tell them there was a newborn and the woman had left hospital.
"The priority of health authorities is the protection and the health of the child. This was a child that still had the umbilical cord attached."
Asked if doctors were worried about the health of the child, or about whether this was the child's mother, the spokesman replied: "It was both. There was a health risk because it was a newborn baby. And, given the reaction of the woman, the professional called the national police who brought the case to the judicial authorities."
Police returned Cottle and the baby to hospital pending DNA tests to prove parentage. Cottle has claimed the doctors maintained their scepticism even after an examination showed that she had recently given birth.
She said she stayed in the maternity ward while Anzelika was held in the neonatal unit, and that she was allowed only limited - and supervised - access to her infant for feeding. Her older daughter, Annabella, had to be looked after by her mother.
The DNA results, proving she was the mother, arrived on Tuesday, three weeks after the birth on June 16. Only then was she allowed to claim her new daughter from the neonatal ward.
The spokesman said the restrictions on Cottle seeing her daughter in hospital were "because of schedules", which had been ordered by the judge who also ordered the DNA test.
"The DNA test results came back to us on July 7. Then we had to wait for the judicial order, which established the maternal relation and archived the case.
"Immediately the hospital proceeded to release the newborn baby with her birth certificate and with her schedule of follow-up appointments for her family doctor as is normal.
"We don't know this woman, or if she's here or not, or if she's going to her country or not. But as it is a newborn born in Spain and in Malaga, we're responsible for giving her a series of follow-up appointments so the baby is taken care of. ."
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