Fisticuffs in the delivery room

Mother and newborn in critical condition after doctors brawl

Police were yesterday questioning staff at a hospital in Sicily where a child was born with suspected brain damage after two doctors attending his mother allegedly came to blows over the need for a cesarean as she went into labor. Laura Salpietro, 30, had her womb removed following the birth. Her husband claims this took place almost an hour and a half late because of the brawl. Her son had two heart attacks shortly after the birth and is still in a drug-induced coma.

Both doctors have been suspended, and the incident, at the Policlinico hospital, in Messina, last Thursday, is the subject of four investigations – by the hospital authorities, a local prosecutor, the regional health authority, and the ministry of health in Rome. One of the doctors involved and the head of the hospital's obstetrics department have denied a link between the fight and the subsequent events. But the woman's husband, Matteo Molonia, said there had been no previous hint of complications. "The sonographic scans and clinical examinations had ruled out any health problems for my wife and son," he said.

"My wife was already in the labor room when her gynecologist, who followed her pregnancy, and another doctor began to argue. The dispute erupted when her personal gynecologist suggested a cesarean and the other objected." Italy has one of the world's lowest rates of maternal mortality, but also has one of the highest rates of cesarean section, amounting to 38% of all births. According to Italian media accounts, Salpietro's gynecologist, Antonio De Vivo, punched his hand through a window after his collar was grabbed by the second doctor. Asked for a comment De Vivo later said: "I merely say that in this matter I am the wronged party and I was attacked."

Molonia, 37, a private detective, was quoted as saying he saw De Vivo leave the labor room with blood dripping from his hand. "There is a gap that goes from 7.40 [in the morning], when the row blew up, to nine o'clock, when they operated on my wife. Why did all that time go by?" The other doctor, Vincenzo Benedetto, said there had been "exaggeration by the media", and that "everything happened with the greatest speed". He said the complications at the birth were due to a "pre-existing pathology". The head of the obstetrics unit, Domenico Granese, said that the complications at the birth of Salpietro's child occurred "not because of the row or because of any delay".