Treatment for medical row baby

A 12-week-old baby at the centre of a medical legal battle is due to have urgent treatment at a Tyneside hospital.

Maria Aziz al-Rafi was born with a severely deformed face, but her parents refused to let doctors carry out an operation on her.

However, following a High Court hearing in Leeds the baby is due to undergo a tracheotomy at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI).

A two-month interim care order has been granted which means Newcastle social services and Maria's parents must agree before she can be moved from the hospital.

Maria's parents agreed to surgery on their daughter

The Family Division of the High Court took seven hours to reach its decision on Maria's immediate future when it sat in Leeds on Wednesday under the guidance of Mr Justice Bodey.

Hospital officials told BBC News Online they are not allowed to comment on the baby's condition because of legal restrictions imposed by the High Court.

Maria was born with a disfiguring condition called Goldenhar's Syndrome.

Her parents had claimed the tracheotomy and a procedure to put a tiny camera into their daughter's nose were unnecessary and dangerous.

Doctors at the RVI have been treating the baby in the intensive care unit since she arrived in the city last week.

Maria was born in December during a holiday to visit relatives in Saudi Arabia.

An emergency police protection order was taken out on the recommendation of medical staff on Monday after the disagreement over her treatment.

Medical intervention

Doctors say it is essential they assess whether they should perform the tracheotomy - a puncture to the windpipe - to help her breathe.

But Ms Taylor, 25, had previously said the hospital wanted to treat her daughter for "student purposes", rather than for essential medical reasons.

Leeds High Court clerk Peter Lawson said after Wednesday's hearing: "It is stressed that the court has been concerned only with the question of immediate medical intervention to deal with Maria's acute breathing difficulties.

"In the fullness of time she will need facial reconstructive surgery, following which it is hoped she may have a normal life expectancy and normal intelligence, but those are matters for the longer-term future.

"The parties have agreed they will not speak further to the media at the present time."