Italian doctors face investigation after rows over caesarian births

A baby has been born with brain damage in the Sicilian city of Messina after a dispute over the need for a caesarean delivery for the second time in less than three weeks. Prosecutors have impounded the clinical records of the birth on 13 September of Giosue Mangraviti, who until today was in a drug-induced coma. He is reported to have three cerebral lesions, along with kidney and heart defects. Last month, a child was born with suspected brain damage at the Policlinico hospital in Messina after two doctors attending his mother allegedly came to blows over the need for a caesarean. The mother had a hysterectomy to remove her womb following the caesarean birth, which her husband claimed had been delayed by almost an hour and a half because of the brawl. In the latest case, the parents have reported the head of obstetrics at the Papardo hospital to police. The mother, Ivana Rigano, aged 24, said that by the time she arrived at the hospital her baby was overdue and weighing more than 4kg (8lbs 8oz). "All the doctors were in favour of a caesarean," she was quoted as saying in Italian media. But when the head of the unit arrived, he vetoed the operation. "He tore up by hand the consent forms we had already signed and ordered the doctors to have me give birth naturally. I broke waters at four o'clock in the afternoon. The baby was born at eight, but got stuck. It was terrible," Rigano said. A spokesman for the hospital said: "There was no row in the labour room." The head of the department taking care of Giosue said it was too early to say if his injuries were the result of the way in which he had been born.