Mum claims hospital stole her newborn baby from her womb

A woman has accused a hospital of stealing the baby from her womb.

Layane Santos, 19, says she was in her 38th week when she was rushed to a maternity hospital in Sao Paulo, south east Brazil, with abdominal pain and blood loss.

A Casesarean section was performed on her but after she woke up she said she was told her pregnancy had been 'psychological'.

Her husband was invited in to the theatre to see her 'empty womb' for himself, according to reports.

But Layane insisted she is telling the truth and the couple have instructed laywers to act for them.

She said she had received pre-natal treatment during her pregnancy. Nurses had recorded the growing size of her baby and even measured the foetal heart beats.

Layane, a kitchen assistant, even had an ultrasound scan in the final week of her pregnancy, which showed she was carrying a baby girl who weighed 7lbs and measured 42cm.

She and her husband Lourival Alves, 28, had already named their daughter Sofia, and had moved to a larger house and had spent £2,000 on clothes and furniture, according to Brazil's Tribunal Hoje newspaper.

On the day Layane believed her baby would be born, doctors at the Santa Casa de Maua hospital performed yet another ultrasound scan.

Hospital records report that the mother-to-be arrived on December 26 'with vaginal bleeding and abdominal pain, requiring urgent attention'.

"The obstetrician diagnosed premature separation of the placenta and the patient was immediately transferred to the operating room," the records said.

But doctors later claimed they found no baby in Layane's womb and believed her 'pregnancy' had been purely psychological.

Layane's husband said: "The doctor showed me the empty womb and said that there wasn't any baby. That the pregnancy had been psychological."

Layanne added: "My husband told me what the doctors had said, and I became hysterical with despair and cried.

"I asked about the doctor, I wanted to speak with him because I had entered the hospital with a baby inside me but I was leaving without one.

"I can't believe that a child who weighed 7lbs could just disappear in blood. I think they stole the baby, or the baby died while she was being delivered and they didn't want to tell us what happened.

"There's no way she could have just vanished from one moment to the next."

The Santa Casa de Maua hospital claimed exams they performed before the delivery proved Layane was not carrying a baby, but said they 'reserved the right to only present these exams at the opportune moment'.

The couple's lawyer, Leila Salomao, confirmed they have asked a judge to seize the hospital's records relating to Layane.

The doctor responsible for Layane's pre-natal treatment, Uesley Lima, has also reportedly promised to be a witness for the couple if they bring a criminal case against the hospital.

More on Parentdish: Woman who claimed she was pregnant with nine babies had her tubes tied