While there have been plenty of stories about the disastrous results of lax maternity hospital care and security, the following report is an example of the opposite extreme.

 

A British woman was left devastated after being separated from her newborn baby, due to doctors’ belief that she was not the child’s real mother.

 

Stacie Cottle, from London, was reportedly forced to provide a DNA test sample to doctors in Malaga, Spain in order to confirm that she was in fact the baby’s mum.

 

The incident occurred when Stacie travelled to Spain last month to help her mother find a home to rent. She ended up going into labour early, giving birth to the child in her mum’s flat.

 

The 27-year-old decided to go for a check-up at a local hospital two days later, and it was then that doctors expressed doubt that the child belonged to Ms Cottle.

 

 

Police got involved shortly after, and a judge proceeded to order DNA tests. During the wait for the tests, the child – a girl named Anzelika – was kept in the hospital’s neonatal unit while Ms Cottle stayed in the maternity ward.

 

After DNA tests proved that Ms Cottle was in fact the child’s mother, she went public with her story.

 

Criticising hospital staff, Ms Cottle told British media: “At no point did they say why this had happened. Repeatedly, during my stay in the hospital, I was called a criminal by staff and patients, from the day we were admitted to practically the day we left.”

 

Ms Cottle, who is of British Caribbean origin, said that she believes race may have played a part in the ordeal.

 

Meanwhile, Ms Cottle has yet to receive an apology from hospital management, who claim that they ‘had to do’ what they did.

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