Courtney Love taken to hospital after court issues arrest warrant

The troubled relationship between singer Courtney Love and the American judicial system took another twist on Friday when she was taken to hospital in New York just hours after a warrant was issued for her arrest in California on an assault charge.

The troubled relationship between singer Courtney Love and the American judicial system took another twist on Friday when she was taken to hospital in New York just hours after a warrant was issued for her arrest in California on an assault charge.

The developments, the latest in a long line of legal traumas involving the troubled widow of Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain, immediately set off a rash of speculation to which her lawyer was quick to respond. "It is not a suicide attempt, not drug-related, not drug-overdose-related," Michael Rosenstein said from Los Angeles. "It's a gynaecological medical condition for which she is receiving treatment."

Photographs showed Ms Love on a stretcher, and published reports said witnesses saw the singer being put into an ambulance outside her apartment in Manhattan. A New York Fire Department spokeswoman said they were responding to a report of a miscarriage at Ms Love's address Friday evening and transported a woman to Bellevue Hospital. The woman was placed in handcuffs because she was refusing medical attention but was no longer in police custody, according to a police spokeswoman.

Earlier on Friday, a warrant was issued for Ms Love's arrest when she failed to appear in a Los Angeles court for arraignment on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon stemming from a 25 April incident at the home of her former manager and ex-boyfriend, Jim Barber. Her lawyer told the court that Ms Love was in New York and was confused about whether she was required to be at the hearing in Los Angeles.

The New York Times reportedthat police had been called to her apartment earlier on Friday with a report of bottles being broken.

Samuel Jackson, a fashion designer who was there, told the Times he saw Ms Love draw her blinds after paparazzi serenaded her with "Happy Birthday". An ambulance reportedly arrived shortly afterwards.

The former lead singer of the band Hole has coast-to-coast legal troubles and has had to reschedule a summer tour to promote her new album, America's Sweetheart.