Deformed baby to have surgery after court deal

The parents of a baby girl born with a severely deformed face today agreed to let medical teams in Newcastle carry out emergency treatment on their child, the High Court said today.

Mr Justice Bodey, sitting in the High Court in Leeds, had asked the parents and the hospital to see if they could reach an agreement in the dispute over health care for the child.

The agreement means that the baby will now receive the operation which the hospital is she urgently needs

The parents, who cannot be named for legal reasons, are fighting medical opinion which states their baby needs an emergency tracheotomy to correct breathing difficulties.

The baby girl arrived in the North East from Saudi Arabia last week and has been in the intensive care unit at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary.

An emergency Police Protection Order was taken out on the recommendation of medical staff on Monday after the parents threatened to remove the child.

The child suffers from Goldenhar's Syndrome and was born with the right side of her face severely deformed.

Her parents attended a hearing at Gosforth Magistrates Court in Newcastle yesterday at which social services attempted to win an emergency protection order as the previous order was due to expire at 5.15pm yesterday.

The parents arrived with their legal team at 10am to fight for the right to remove their child from Newcastle RVI. The case was being heard in chambers.

The parents declined to comment as they entered the building.

A Newcastle City Council spokeswoman said today's High Court hearing was being brought firstly by the hospital trust to win a court order known as a "medical declaration" which would allow treatment on the baby to take place, even if it overrided the wishes of the parents.

If that succeeded, the council's social services department would then make an application to extend the interim care order which was granted last night and expires this evening.

That would allow social services staff to decide where the baby should stay.

The spokeswoman said: "Obviously, that would be in hospital."