The claimant, Anna, was unsuccessful with her legal action against the Náchod Regional Hospital's forceful steps during her delivery in 2009. Against her wishes, hospital staff carried out episiotomy on her and other unwanted interventions.

The mother will be submitting an appeal to the Supreme Court with the help of the League of Human Rights, but she is nevertheless obliged to pay the hospital’s legal costs of CZK 60,000. For this reason, the League has launched a campaign for her support it and in aid of further legal steps.

Courts: no violation of personal rights

According to the Regional Court in Hradec Králové as well as the High Court in Prague, the personal rights of the woman were not infringed and the medical staff were not obliged to respect her wishes because of an alleged exercise of due care towards the foetus.

"The courts have entirely resigned their role of protecting expectant mothers against violence from hospital staff and protecting the right to informed consent, all under the guise of an alleged rescue of the foetus," said Susan Candigliota, Anna's attorney. "The statistics reveal appalling overuse of episiotomy in this hospital: almost every primipara underwent the treatment, while according to the World Health Organization episiotomy is justified in only 10 percent of cases. The courts did not consider the fact that the hospital would hurt women systematically and unjustifiably. The courts only considered conclusions of biased forensic experts who evaluated the staff behavior as 'lege artis.' Yet these same experts admitted that they had not even seen the CTG record of the birthing which was supposed to show the complications, and expressed contempt for the mother concerned. At the same time, the courts did not consider expert testimonies of the claimant."

International criticism

The right to informed consent and to refuse medical procedures is enshrined in law and childbirth is no exception. The UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women criticized the Czech Republic for the frequent use of episiotomies without medical justification and contrary to women’s expressed wishes. The Committee demanded that all interventions during childbirth be carried out only with a prior free and informed consent by the woman.

The World Health Organization is also concerned about mistreatment of women during childbirth, and calls for a dignified obstetric care and for respecting the right to physical integrity.

A more detailed description of the case and court judgments can be found here.